A Post-colonial Narrative of Colonial Korea

Lost Names

First published in 1970, Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard Kim describes characters and events that occurred for the most part during the third phase (1931-1945) of Japan’s colonial rule over Korea. This period coincides with Kim’s own boyhood experiences in northern Korea, after which he served for four years in the South Korean military during the Korean War. Following his combat experience, Kim attended Middlebury College in Vermont and later earned advanced degrees in writing from The Johns Hopkins University, University of Iowa, and Harvard University.

In developing your 1000-word essay about Kim’s Lost Names, use his biography (e.g., the book’s preface (pp. ix-xxiii), the author’s note (pp. 197-198), and his interview with Kathleen Masalski (Moodle)) to answer the following questions:

 How do you think Richard Kim’s identity (e.g., class, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.) shaped the telling of his narrative account of colonial Korea?
 How representative do you think Kim’s experiences were of other Koreans at the time?
 In what ways does Kim’s narrative of colonial Korea correspond and not correspond with the agrarian nationalist as well as the more dominant capitalist and communist national narratives about the colonial period (see Gi-wook Shin’s article “Agrarianism: A Critique of Colonial Modernity in Korea”)?

In crafting your thesis, make a clear and concise argument about identity that responds to the above questions. The essay should be balanced by giving equal attention to broader historical contexts of colonial Korea and the individual experiences of this book’s protagonist and other characters. In addition, you must support your thesis and each sub-argument by citing at least two pieces of evidence per paragraph (e.g., quotes, statistical information, specific historical examples). Some of this evidence must come from Lost Names, but at least half of your citations must also be from at least two other sources, such as from Shin’s article or those included in the chapters 21 and especially 23 of Ebrey and Walthall’s East Asia textbook. Unless you receive advance permission to use additional sources, please restrict your citations in this paper to the above primary and secondary sources.

*The rough draft is due both online in Turn-It-In (Moodle) before your section and two copies are due in your section during WEEK 12.
**The final draft is due online in Turn-It-In at 23:59 on 4/20 AND two peer-edited rough drafts and edit sheets are due in your section or at the beginning of lecture (i.e., 1:00 PM) on 4/18. Your TA may also request a hardcopy of your essay.

Technical Aspects
• 1000 words (not including your name, paper title, and footnotes), typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point, 1” margins, word-count capable (i.e., not a PDF)
• Include your name, date, word count, and paper title (no title page or bibliography is necessary)
• Spell-checked and edited for proper word choice and grammar usage (See the PDF entitled “Checklist for editing papers” on the Moodle website)
• Papers that are overly short or long (fifty words in either direction) will have points deducted for incompleteness or a longwinded lack of focus
• When citing Lost Names or any other sources, be sure to include full footnotes (use the “Insert Footnote” function on the Reference tab in MSWord 2007) according to the Chicago Manual of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools
_citationguide.html) or Kate Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (examples can be found at the library or on the Internet), e.g., Richard Kim, Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood, 40th Anniversary Edition (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1988), 123.  page number and punctuation.

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