[DeCal] Readings, Change of Group Presentations

Reassignment of Group Presentations:

The rationale behind re-assigning presentations topics is that as most of history is very dense, it takes an enormous effort on the part of students, when presenting on topics far removed from the present, to not get lost in names, dates, and events and to still take something useful away from all of this. For example, while the  presentation on the Korean War three semesters ago was excellent in giving an overview of the major battles and the general direction of the war, none of the covered material proved to be particularly relevant to better understanding the Koreas of today.

I'm firmly of the belief that most of the heavy lifting should be done by student instructors and that as the focus of this course is not Korean History, this aspect should largely be left to student instructors. At one point, all presentations were given by a single student instructor (Spring 2009). With that in mind, I felt the effort of students in groups 1 and 2 would better spent on applying the conclusions from the historical presentations that student instructors give to contemporary issues. Group 1 will now be presenting on North Korea's Nuclear Program, Disarmament, and Six Party Talks. Group 2 will now be presenting on Unification. Both groups will now be presenting in MarchApril.

I have volunteered to cover the post-colonial period, the Korean War, and South Korea up until 1997 this following Tuesday.

Readings:

I have posted the recommended and required readings for all presentation groups except for groups that will be presenting in April. Please see the syllabus for more.