Yonsei University

Take a cursory glance at recent critical work on Asian American Studies, and you'll notice immediately how often the term “Asian America” appears, as if such a formation actually exists. Less a claim to take actual territory from the United States than a broad appeal to grant Asians a place at the American table of citizenship and national belonging, the literature of Asian Americans can be productively read alongside persistent yet often divergent, even contested, visions of Asian America. This course is designed to trace one such trajectory in the creation and recreation of Asian America through literature. Paying special attention to the political, economic, and social constraints during the time of their production and reception, we will examine how Asian American literary work both reflected and transformed the social protocols of their day, and in doing so helped to reimagine what it means to be “Asian,” or “American,” and everything else in between. 

This course is designed for students with basic knowledge in Korean, and expands their vocabulary and grammar for everyday conversation. Students engage in a variety of activities in speaking, listening, writing, and reading to improve their communication skills in Korean. By the end of the course students should be able to understand the fundamental rules of sentence structure and syntax in Korean; have basic conversations in Korean on various topics including jobs, transportation, weather, food, sports, etc.; and use past and future tense, honorific forms according to the appropriate social situation.

This course examines the history and culture of East Asia with a focus on Korea, China, and Japan. Specifically, it pays attention to the cultural elements shared by the so-called 'East Asian culture' before modern times. In other words, we examine how cultures such as Chinese characters, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Islam were formed and developed, how they spread throughout East Asia, and how they affected and how they have been transformed to this day. Rather than simply comparing the three countries of Korea, China, and Japan, we set East Asia as a unit and pay attention to how cultural elements are circulated and related therein. Topics include Literacy Life in East Asia; Buddhism in East Asia; Confucian Culture and Confucian Society in East Asia: East Asia and its Complexity as a Confucian Cultural Sphere; Islam in East Asia; and East Asian Countries from a Comparative Historical Perspective.

This course offers an overview of how American legal institutions defined and enforced public rules based on race and racial categories. It begins with a discussion of the American constitution, then proceeds to the law of slavery, Native American removal, restrictions against Chinese and Asian immigrants, and race-based segregation. The course delves into the American Civil Rights Movement, followed by studies of desegregation and notions of “colorblindness.”   

This course examines problem solving in the community and society from social welfare perspective. This course develops capacity of social entrepreneurship in the social welfare context that offer solutions to social problems in an innovative way. It reviews concept of community, theoretical frameworks for understanding community, definitions of community welfare and community practice, and community practice models (locality development, social planning, social action etc.) for promoting community welfare, typical problem solving phases to strengthen community welfare, and new approaches and tasks in promoting community welfare. 

This course examines national treasures, historical artifacts, particularly preserved at Yonsei, and heritage entries registered with UNESCO as a window to understand the history, culture, and people’s lives of Korea. Special emphasis is placed on the trans-national interactions with neighboring states, and the construction of the cultural identity of Korea. 

Students will learn the basic concepts and analytical tools of finance in both corporate finance and investments. Topics include time value of money, risk and return, financial institutions, efficient markets, valuation theory, capital budgeting, portfolio theory, and cost of capital. The goal of this course is to equip students with the essential tools to make solid financial decisions in business.