This course will familiarize students with major historical developments, substantive political issues, and theoretical debates in the study of Korea’s twentieth-century history and politics. The course touches on issues such as the impact of colonialism, revolution, civil and international conflict, political economy and corruption, contemporary social issues, and authoritarian and democratic political development in both North and South Korea. The course pairs analytical and explanatory readings with weekly films – either documentary or non-documentary – to interrogate major social and political developments on the Korean peninsula since the start of the twentieth century.