EALL410/510 Visions of Empire

This course will explore visual cultures of Korea and Japan during Japan’s imperial expansion from the late nineteenth century to the end of World War Two. It will endeavor to interrogate how modern visual media and cultures reflected and responded in various ways to the formation of colonial/imperial modernity, modern cultural experiences in Korea and Japan, and the colonial relationship between the two countries.

Specifically, the course will examine the ways in which visual culture embodied and generated such discourses as Orientalism, historiography, the constructions of racial, ethnic and gender identities, nationalism, and the politics of representation. Through an examination of a range of forms and practices of visual culture, including, but not limited to, photography, film, painting, travelogue, world fair/exposition, and popular magazines from Korea and Japan, this course will ultimately unearth how visual culture vividly captured the often “invisible” aspects of the colonial politics and relationship.