Korean Language and Culture at Stockholm University

From linguistics to cultural and social studies

Different from the other East Asian studies, Chinese and Japanese, Stockholm University is presently the only university in Sweden which offers programs and courses in Korean studies. There are no courses on Korean language or Korea-related subjects taught at any other Swedish university. Students come from all over Sweden and even from neighboring Scandinavian and Baltic countries as well as other European countries. Within the Scandinavian region, Stockholm University has the largest teaching and research staff in Korean studies and offers the broadest spectrum of Korea-related courses.

Origins and early developments, 1950s-2000s

The history of studying and teaching Korean language in Sweden goes back to the mid-1950s, to Uppsala University. Inspired by the Finish linguist Gustav John Ramstedt’s hypothesis about Korean belonging to the Altaic language family, Björn Collinder, professor of Fino-Ugrian languages at Uppsala University, invited a young Korean intellectual to do research on Korean, Japanese and Chinese at his institution. The young Korean intellectual was Cho Seung-bog [Cho Sǔng-bok].

Professor Seung-bog Cho, 1963.

In 1957, he initiated the first lessons in Korean language at Uppsala University and in the 1960s he also started to teach at Stockholm University, parallel to his lessons in Uppsala. Since 1969, when it was decided to give Stockholm University a profile in modern East Asian languages, the subject was moved from Uppsala University to Stockholm. Since then, Korean language and Korea-related subjects have been taught only at Stockholm University.

In that early period teaching and research focused on modern and pre-modern Korean language. Among Cho Seung-bog’s early scientific outputs was a monograph on Korean language, specifically on phonology: A Phonological Study of Korean: With a Historical Analysis.

Cho Seung-bog finally became Sweden's first professor of Japanese Studies at Stockholm University in 1975 while he continued to teach and do research on Korean as well. One of Cho’s students, Staffan Rosén, followed the footsteps of his teacher in doing research on Korean historical phonology. He was the first in Sweden to produce a doctoral dissertation on Korean language: Staffan Rosén. A Study of Tones and Tonemarks in Middle Korean. Stockholm University.

Phonology continued to be a major research focus far into the 1980s. In 1982, with support of the Research Council for Social Sciences and the Humanities (Humanistisk-samhällsvetenskapliga forskningsrådet), a researcher’s position in Korean was created which allowed to build up a complete educational program on the undergraduate as well as graduate levels.

In 1989, a full-time professorship in Korean studies was established at Stockholm University, the first such position in Sweden. Staffan Rosén was appointed to and held this position until his retirement in 2009. Besides historico-linguistic studies, Korean history and the history of Korean people’s contacts with Central Asia via the Silk Road became the primary research fields of Staffan Rosén.

Since the second half of the 1980s, in collaboration with scholars in related fields who worked as second supervisors, a few students have been educated on a broader variety of subjects and, as a result, a few Ph.D. theses have been written on topics such as the role of the Korean ship-building industry in the South Korean economy, socio-political issues of Late Chosǒn, and adopted Koreans’ representations in Korean popular culture. The theses were the followings:

Gabriel Jonsson, 1996. Shipbuilding in South Korea: A Comparative Study.
Anders Karlsson, 2000. The Hong Kong Kyǒngnae rebellion 1811-1812: Conflict Between Central Power and Local Society in 19th-Century Korea.
Tobias Hübinette, 2005. Comforting an orphaned nation: Representations of international adoption and adopted Koreans in Korean popular culture.

The new study and research environment provided the basis for gradually enlarging the teaching staff in the 1990s and 2000s and offering students new courses on Korean politics and economy, history and culture in addition to the already existing ones.

In the 1990s, student numbers increased significantly. While there were about 9-10 in the 1980s, the number reached a top with ca. 40 in the mid-1990s. However, in the 2000s there was a temporary decline which has been explained as reflecting the general trend of less enrollment in Swedish universities in that period.

Rising interest in the last decade

Over the last decade a steadily rising interest in learning Korean language and getting comprehensive knowledge about Korea has been observed in Sweden. The autumn term of 2012 brought a new turn in the already apparent trend: the number of newly enrolled students in Korean I suddenly jumped up to 65, that means it doubled compared to the previous years. Since then the number continuously stays at the same high level, always between 60 to 65 students.

Korean society and culture came to be attended by far more students than in previous years. The really amazing rise of students’ enrollment in all courses has been continuing since then.

Present staff

The permanent staff of the Korean studies section now consists of four full-time positions: one Professor in Korean language and culture Sonja Häussler, one Senior lecturer in Korean politics and economics Gabriel Jonsson and two Korean language teachers, Kang Kyung Sook and Eunah Kim.

The appointment of professor Sonja Häussler, a specialist in pre-modern and modern Korean literature and culture, in July 2012 made it possible to further diversify the course program in Korean culture and to develop teaching and research on pre-modern and modern Korean literature as well.

Ph.D Studies

In 2020 one Ph.D. thesis were completed. It is dealing with contemporary Korean literature and written by Eunah Kim. The thesis is titled Communicating female voicelessness. A feminist-narratological study of Pak Wansǒ’s short stories from the 1970s.

In the spring term of 2016, we were able to enrol two new PhD students. One of the students, Ekaterina Malik, has a focus on Korean language and linguistics and is actively involved in Korean language teaching on the B.A. level (Korean III and IV).

The second Ph.D. student, Iain Sands, is doing research on “Performing and Transforming Trauma: Performance Practices and Reconstituting Political Agency for North Korean Refugees in South Korea.” He also contributes to teaching with lessons on North Korean society and culture as well as identity questions and problems in inter-Korean relations.