Explore how deep tradition and rapid change intersect in contemporary South Korea—through its society, arts, gender politics, and globe-spanning popular culture.
16
None
Korean
English
Aug 31 – Dec 13
South Korea
Japan
Seoul
Required
Identity & Human Resilience
This program immerses you in one of the world’s most dynamic societies, where centuries-old tradition and breakneck change collide in everyday life. All students take a shared core course, Korean Culture and Society: Continuity and Change, which builds a foundation for the program by exploring how historical legacies and forces like democratization, globalization, and rapid development shape contemporary Korean life. You will design your own focus, choosing two of four electives that approach contemporary Korea from distinct angles—through language, gender politics, arts and craft traditions, or globe-spanning popular culture (Hallyu). Whichever you choose, you will move well beyond the classroom to investigate how Koreans negotiate identity and belonging, through fieldwork, such as museum and workshop visits, oral histories, advocacy-organization case studies, and hands-on media analysis.
From the program’s base in vibrant Seoul, you will engage directly with the people, places, and institutions shaping contemporary Korea, guided by faculty and local experts. You will build a portfolio of reflections, fieldwork, and original analysis, honing the close-observation and evidence-based skills to make sense of a rapidly shifting society and to prepare for an international career. Excursions to Japan and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) place Korea in comparative and geopolitical perspective, illuminating colonial legacies, national division, and the politics of memory.
Receive up to $1,000 in flight credits when you join this new program! Learn more HERE
None.
Students studying on this SIT semester-length program can choose to simultaneously complete a minor, with no additional coursework or cost. At SIT, a minor is a minimum of 16 credits taken within a content area. This standout credential can help boost your future job or graduate school applications.
SIT’s program in South Korea offers the choice to do a minor in Media Studies or East Asian studies. You’ll develop critical perspectives on Korean cultural production, global media circulation, and regional dynamics shaping the peninsula. Through coursework, field-based learning in Seoul, and your Independent Study Project or internship, you'll examine media industries, regional power relations, and transnational influences-graduating with the analytical tools, on-the-ground experience, and global perspective to thrive in careers spanning international affairs, media and communications, policy, and beyond.
A guided excursion to the line dividing the two Koreas brings the program’s central themes into sharp focus. Visiting key sites along the world’s most heavily fortified frontier, students confront national division as a lived human reality rather than an abstraction. Standing where the peninsula has remained split since 1953, they explore how division shapes Korean identity, collective memory, and family separation—and how a resilient society makes meaning of a border that runs through its history.
This multi-day excursion places Korea in comparative perspective. Students observe Japanese society through the same thematic lenses developed across the semester and engage directly with the Korea–Japan relationship—colonial legacies, the politics of historical memory (comfort women, forced labor, the politics of apology), and contemporary tensions. The excursion turns abstract questions of continuity and change into a lived, comparative field experience.
This multi-day excursion anchors the Continuity and Change course in the city at the heart of Korea’s democratization story. Through the May 18th Democratic Uprising of 1980—its cemetery, archives, and memorial sites—students examine how civil society, resistance, and democratic memory are made and contested. The region’s distinct history reveals why the uprising happened here, turning abstract questions of continuity and change into lived field experience.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
By the end of the program, you will be able to:
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.
The syllabi can be useful for students, faculty, and study abroad offices in assessing credit transfer. Read more about credit transfer.
Korean Culture and Society: Continuity and Change – syllabus
(ASIA3000 / 3 credits)
An interdisciplinary introduction to South Korea’s society and culture, emphasizing the tension between enduring traditions and rapid transformation. Students explore how historical legacies, Confucian values, and family and community structures shape everyday life, and how democratization, globalization, and economic development have reshaped social institutions. Topics include education, class, gender, religion, and generational change, alongside the “Miracle on the Han River,” the democracy movement, and the urban transformation of Seoul. A multi-day Japan excursion adds comparative perspective. Field visits and community engagement offer firsthand views of how continuity and change are lived in contemporary Korea.
Choose two electives from the list below:
Gender & Society in South Korea – syllabus
(ASIA3030 / 3 credits)
This course examines how gender roles, identities, and representations shape everyday life in South Korea and how they have evolved amid rapid change. We will trace the legacies of Confucian patriarchy and industrial modernity alongside contemporary movements for gender equality and LGBTQ+ visibility, exploring intersections of gender, labor, family, and media through feminist activism, changing masculinities, and generational debate. Special attention is given to the K-Beauty and fashion industries as sites where gender ideals are constructed, contested, and globalized. Field visits to advocacy organizations, cultural institutions, and creative industries provide firsthand perspectives on how gender is negotiated, performed, and redefined.
Korean Arts: Historical & Contemporary Practices – syllabus
(ASIA3010 / 3 credits)
This course explores the traditions and contemporary expressions of fine arts and crafts in Korea, from classical court painting and ceramics to applied arts, modern design, and “K-Art.” Students analyze how artistic forms reflect cultural values, social change, and historical context, with attention to craftsmanship, symbolism, and aesthetic philosophies rooted in Confucianism, Buddhism, and shamanism. The course considers the revitalization of traditional crafts—pottery, lacquerware, hanbok, hanji, and calligraphy—alongside their reinvention in modern creative industries. Field visits to museums, galleries, workshops, and craft villages give students firsthand experience of Korea’s artistic legacy and its ongoing transformation.
Korean Popular Culture & Media – syllabus
(ASIA3020 / 3 credits)
This course examines Korean popular culture and media as lenses into society, identity, and everyday life. We will analyze how K-pop, K-dramas, cinema, comics (manhwa), and webtoons represent gender, class, family, and generational change, and how these forms both reflect and shape Korean values. The course places K-culture in critical perspective—the global commodification of culture, the politics of representation, the pressures of the idol system, and the tensions between cultural pride and soft-power projection. Field visits to cultural institutions, entertainment-industry sites, and the DMZ provide firsthand perspectives on the lived and contested meanings of K-culture.
Beginning Korean – syllabus
(KORE1003-1503 / 3 credits)
This course includes an introduction to Korean, both spoken language and the written Hangul script. You will learn grammatical rules, vocabulary, structure, and methods of forming sentences. You will use Korean to express yourself in daily life, and to develop a deeper understanding of Korean culture through different applications of the language.
Intermediate Korean – syllabus
(KORE2003-2503 / 3 credits)
This course helps you improve intermediate skills in speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Continue to learn grammatical rules, vocabulary, structure, and methods of forming sentences. You will use Korean to express yourself in daily life, and to develop a deeper understanding of Korean culture through different applications of the language.
Choose one of the following two courses:
Social Science Methods and Ethics in Global Contexts – syllabus
(RSCH3500 / 3 credits)
This course is designed to introduce you to the methodological tools deployed by social scientists to conduct empirically grounded and theoretically engaged research. The course will cover the basic elements of research design, the role of theory in empirical research, and the ethics for social scientific research, with particular attention to the complex ethical considerations that arise when conducting research in international and cross-cultural contexts. You will gain hands-on experience with both basic quantitative and qualitative methods, with the flexibility to emphasize your preferred methodological approach in their your final work. Using this project-based approach, the course will prepare you to design and execute social science research projects while developing competency across methodological traditions.
OR
Global Organizational Culture and Ethics – syllabus
(GOCE3500 / 3 credits)
This course equips you to engage meaningfully and ethically in internship experiences across diverse sociopolitical, cultural, environmental, and global contexts. Using a critical, practice-based approach, you will examine the nature and purpose of internships as transformative experiential learning opportunities that connect to the program’s theme. Emphasis is placed on navigating workplace and organizational cultures, reflecting on identity and positionality in professional settings, and applying ethical principles to working globally with communities, individuals, and environments—particularly in collaboration with vulnerable populations and in sensitive ecological or habitat settings.
In addition to taking the above courses, students will also need to enroll in one of the following two courses:
Independent Study Project – syllabus
(ISPR300 / 4 credits)
The Independent Study Project (ISP) offers you the opportunity to undertake an in-depth, analytical, and individualized approach to the independent study of an aspect of culture and socio-economic development or human-environment interaction that you find of academic interest. The ISP provides you with a hands-on research experience and the chance to interact with local experts and investigate a topic in which you are interested. The ISP process challenges you to take responsibility for developing learning goals and outcomes, remain focused in your attention to details, analyze your pre-conceptions and methodological approaches towards interacting with people and the environment, exercise critical thinking and caution in the interpretation of your results, and learn from successes as well as setbacks.
OR
Internship and Seminar – syllabus
(ITRN300 / 4 credits)
This seminar consists of a four-week internship with a local community organization, research organization, local or international NGO. The aim of the internship is to enable you to gain valuable work experience and to enhance their skills in an international work environment. You will complete an internship and submit a paper in which you process your learning experience on the job, analyze an issue important to the organization, and/or design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization.
You will live in a student residence or apartment in Seoul. Residences typically include kitchen facilities, a washing machine, and Wi-Fi. Rooms may be shared, depending on availability.
Please note that specific housing locations and amenities are subject to change.
SIT Study Abroad is committed to ensuring that international education is within reach for all students. We believe in the transformative power of immersive, intercultural experiences and are dedicated to supporting students in their educational journey.
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A critical step in preparing for your study abroad program is planning how you will maintain your health and wellbeing. Please review the following information carefully and contact [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
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Students are required to obtain a visa for this program. Your admissions officer will provide you further guidance on the process and support documents. Please do not apply without instructions from your admissions officer.
