Nordkoreas samhälle och kultur

The course discusses major aspects of North Korean society and culture from the perspective of dynamic transformation, arguing against the dominating mass media images of the DPRK as a unique/ exceptional, stagnatic country. The course will delineate the most important periods of socio-political and cultural changes since the Korean nations liberation from Japanese Colonial power up to the present-day DPRK. The transformative processes in the DPRK will be studied in the context of post-colonial discourse, (post-)socialist/communist development, state-led market liberalization and nationalism. The course is expected to facilitate a better understanding of current developments in the DPRK and grasping their dimension and complexity.