About Me

I specialize in Korean and Chinese film, media, popular culture, and critical theory. My research explores how human relations are (re)shaped by media and culture, with a particular focus on the Sino-Korean media interaction. I particularly examine the reverse question of how the audiovisual media mechanism (re)defines what it means to be collaborative and symbiotic for the human community within the context of media convergence and capitalist globalization. My first book Screen Capitalism: Global Korean Screen Culture in Postsocialist China investigates the contemporary Sino-Korean cultural dynamics in the screen media, at intersections with affect, language, ideology, and gender. My second book project, tentatively titled Screen as Shaman: Mediated Justice, Law, and Ethics in East Asian Screen Media, focuses on screen media’s potentiality of opening an affective and representational space of virtuality that directly impacts the criminal justice system in actuality.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE & PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING

Lecturer/sole instructor

Yale University

Politics of East Asian Digital Media Culture (Spring 2024)

What Happened to Socialism: Chinese Cinema and Society, 1905-2015 (Spring 2024)

Modern Chinese Literature (Fall 2023)

Love, Death, and Life: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature (Fall 2023)

Global Korean Cinema (Fall 2022)

Politics of East Asian Screen Culture (Spring. 2023)

Harvard University

Korean Cinema as World Cinema (Fall 2020)

Teaching of Excellence Award

Stanford University

Asian Screen Cultures (Spring 2020)

University of California, Irvine

Korean Popular Culture (Summer 2017)
Korean Language (7 sections; Fall 2015-Spring 2018)
Chinese Language (Fall 2014, Winter/Spring 2015)

Teaching Assistant

University of California, Irvine

Lead discussion sections and gave lectures to 70 students to provide supplemental materials; explained theories, analyzed readings, and mentored students’ research projects; graded quizzes, midterms, final papers.

Gender and Visuality in Korea (Winter 2017)

Topics on Korean women films and literature

Asian American Communities (Winter 2018, Winter 2019)

Topics on Asian American histories

Pedagogical Training

Yale University

Equitable Teaching and Learning (Spring 2023)

Harvard University

Online Course Planning Workshop (Summer 2020)

University of California, Irvine

Teaching in Excellence (Fall 2018)

Teaching Methods Seminar (Fall 2014, Winter 2015)

Creative Course Design Program (Fall 2017)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2022-present

Postdoctoral Associates, Yale University

Conduct research on film, media convergence, critical theory, and gender politics with a regional focus on Korea and China

2020-2021

Postdoctoral Fellow Researcher, Harvard University

Conducted research project “Screen-capitalism: Transnational Korean Screen

Culture in Postsocialist China”

2019 Winter-Spring

Researcher and Translator, Seoul National University and University of California, Irvine

Co-translated the book Rewriting History Through Memories: Korean Military Comfort Women Taken by Force 4; conducted historical and geographical research for the UC Irvine & Seoul National University Comfort Women Translation and Digitalization Project (launched by Comfort Women Research Center (CWRC) at the Ministry of Women and Family of Korea).

2018 Summer

Research Director, Department of East Asian Studies, University of California, Irvine

Designed study on Chinese documentary television program; located, collected, and translated archival materials from several sources; compiled and analyzed museum archives; applied fund to support the research from the Center for Asian Studies at UC Irvine.

2017 Summer

Research Director, Department of East Asian Studies, University of California, Irvine

Conducted archival research on the project of “the spread of screen-capitalism off screen” at National Assembly Library of Korea; collected, compiled and analyzed data from several sources, including Korean Organization of Tourism and Gangnam Tourist Information Center; collected materials at Hallyu experience centers in Seoul and Incheon, including MBC World, SM Town, and Incheon Korean Traditional Culture Center; applied fund to support the research from Humanities Commons and Center for Asian Studies at UC Irvine.

2017 Summer to Fall

Research Assistant, Department of English, University of California, Irvine

Located, annotated, and translated secondary sources on the study of language ideology in South Korea; collected, compiled and analyzed texts from several sources.

2016 Winter

Research Organizer, Multi-campus

Organized and coordinated a multi-campus collaborative research project of women’s identity and history between home and nation in East Asia; collected, compiled and analyzed texts from several sources; planned and organized research meetings; maintained contact with research staff from UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and the University of Tokyo.

PRENSENTATIONS

2023 December

“Reframing Korean Screen Culture: Recent Changes in social, Gender, and
Industrial Landscapes,” Korean Screen Culture Conference, Melbourne,
Australia. December 1-2.

2022 March

“How a Softie Like You Can Be So Good on the Battlefield: Male Bodies and the

Female Gaze in Descendants of the Sun, Association for Asian Studies Annual

Conference, Honolulu, HI.

2021 April

“Opening a Virtual Space Before the Door of the Law: The Dogani Effect from Silenced to Angels Wear White,”

Korean Studies Working Group at Harvard, Cambridge, MA. April 23.

2019 March

"The Powerless in the Power-of-Screen: From Silenced to Carnival"

Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS)

Denver, CO

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2011-2012

Hong Kong International Media Group,

Planning Executive
Evaluated film and television projects; reported the results of evaluation; assisted in making decisions on importing foreign film and TV series; supervised and managed collaborative projects with South Korea; coordinated, organized, and translated for the conferences about international collaboration.

2008

Beijing Olympic Press & Media Center

Manager Assistant & Translator
Coordinated news conferences and affairs with domestic and overseas media; reported game scores for overseas media; arranged emergency measures for various media; translated written materials and oral communication.

2018 August

"From a “to-be-looked-at” object to a “to-cater-to” subject: A Shift of Viewing Subject and Gender Identity in the Rise of Korean Popular Culture"

The 12th Conference of the International Federation for Research on Women’s History

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

2018 June

"Collaborative Transplant: Hurry Up, Brothers"

Korean Wave Still Matters: Present and Future Directions Conference

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

2018 May

"Gendered Screen-capitalism: A Shifting Gaze and Female Friendship"

The 14th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

2017 May

"Transplantable Screen-capitalism: On the Chinese Remakes of Korean TV Programs"

Recent Books in Korean Studies, funded by CCKS, UC Irvine

Irvine, CA

2017 April

“Korean Cinema: The Virtue in the Real—Silenced”

Film Screening & Discussion Series 2 at UC Irvine Irvine, CA

2015 October

"Pop Culture as Healing and Reconciliation: Supernaturalism and the Supersensory in Korean Cinema and K-drama"

Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS)

Salt Lake City, UT

2014 February

"Power and Resistance: Delicate Cages"

Film screening & Discussion, EALL, UC Irvine

Irvine, CA

2012 February

"A Study on Korean & American Waves in the Chinese TV Drama Scene"

Society for Phenomenology and Media

San Diego, CA

CERTIFICATES

2018

Teaching in Excellence

The Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI) at University of California, Irvine

2018

Public Speaking: Activate to Captivate

Graduate Resource Center at University of California, Irvine

2017

Creative Course Design Certification

The Center of Engaged Instruction at University of California, Irvine

2010

Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) Level 6

Korean National Institute for International Education

INVITED LECTURES

2023 “The Futures of Uri: Global Korean Screen Culture in Postsocialist China,”

Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University

2021 “Nonsense or an Alternative Language?: The Lingualscape in the Transnational

Korean Screen Culture”

Korean Heritage Language Research Group Roundtable

Meetings, UC Irvine

2021 “Screen-capitalism: Transnational Korean Screen Culture in Postsocialist China,”

Kim Koo Forum on Korea Current Affairs, Korea Institute, Harvard University

2020 “Korean Cinema, Imperialism, and The Host,”

The Task Force for Asian American

Progressive Advocacy and Studies at Harvard

2020 “Nation, Memory, and Democratization,” History, Nationalism, and the World: The

Case of Korea, Harvard University

2018 “The Power of Screen: Hallyu and its Reception in China,” Korean Failures, UC

Irvine

2017 “Spectator-subject, Co-production, and Reception of Korean Television,” Gender

and Visuality in Korea, UC Irvine

2016 “Mystery in a Floating City: City, Space, and Mental Life in Postsocialist China,”

Sino-Cinema Scope, UC Irvine

LANGUAGES

Chinese: Native Language

Classical Chinese: Native proficiency

English: Near native proficiency

Korean (Include Hanmun): Near native proficiency

Japanese: Professional working proficiency

SERVICE

2024

Senior Thesis Advisor, Departments of Film and Media Studies & East Asian Languages and
Literatures, Yale University, CT

2023

Reviewer for Book: Roses in the Smokehouse: Biographical Essays of Suffering and Love, by
Miroslav Volf, Yale Center for Faith & Culture Consultation, Yale University, CT

2023

Academic Advisor, Yale University-New Asia Undergraduate Exchange Program (YUNA),

Yale-China Association, Yale University, CT

2021

Reviewer for Journals: Journal of Intercultural Communication Research and The Harvard

Undergraduate Research Journal

2017

Co-translator, Translation Project of Korean novelist Park Min-gyu’s A Journal from the Alpha-Omega Kosiwon, published in Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture no.11 (2018): 121-146, UC Irvine.

2017

Co-organizer for Event: Film Screening & Discussion Series 2, Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures, UC Irvine, CA

2015

Co-organizer for Conference: Theory and Methodology Collaborative Workshop, UC Irvine, CA

2010

Translator & Producer, collaborative film project between Beijing Film Academy & the Korean National University of Arts, lunched by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

2010

Coordinator & Translator, Seoul International Art Seminar, Korean National University of Arts & Shanghai Theatre Academy.