Feminist media scholar | Assistant professor of media studies
@EmoryUniversity
| 2024-25
@acls1919
fellow | Digital media, culture & activism | Tweets my own
So, while I’m allowed to teach a course on global digital activism, my students aren’t allowed to hold a peaceful protest on campus, right? Stop the nonsense.
Some professional news! I am delighted to announce that I will be joining the Department of Film and Media
@EmoryUniversity
as an Assistant Professor of Digital and Social Media in August 2022. I am really excited about this next chapter and moving to Atlanta this summer🍑✨
I'm thrilled to share that I've received an ACLS fellowship and am honored to be part of this cohort of incredible scholars! I look forward to completing my book manuscript over the next academic year.
We are excited to announce the winners of the 2024 ACLS Fellowships. This year, the program will award more than $3.6 million in research support to 60 scholars:
Deeply honored to have received the 2024 Helen Award for Emerging Feminist Scholarship from
@ICA_FSD
. As a junior scholar, being recognized for my work in the field of feminist media studies is incredibly meaningful to me. Thank you
#ICA24
Please take a moment to read and share the following important thread. The issue extends beyond individual ethical violations or the inadequacy of the IRB process. Rather, it involves a broader network of individuals and institutions, including researchers, universities,
1/23 The book Queer Korea, published by Duke University Press in 2020, has been circulated internationally as the cutting edge publication and scholarship on Korean queer communities. However, it had serious ethical problems throughout the process of its publication.
Check out the latest special issue of Korea Journal on contemporary social movements in South Korea, which includes my own piece on the resurgence and popularization of feminism.
Due to the pandemic, I have missed two important SCMS award ceremonies since last year. But I’d like to celebrate and share this news with people who have always shown love and support for me, including my mentors, colleagues, and friends.
SCMS congratulates Jinsook Kim from the University of Pennsylvania on receiving the 2021 Honorable Mention in the Dissertation Award category for, "Contesting Hate: Online Misogyny and Networked Anti-Hate Feminist Activism in South Korea"
트위터에 처음으로 한글로 글을 남겨봅니다. 한국의 여성혐오와 페미니스트 운동을 다룬 제 박사논문이 미디어 학회(Society For Cinema and Media Studies)에서 박사논문상(Dissertation award honorable mention)을 받았습니다.
Good news rarely comes in pairs, but it’s happening to me! I'm excited to announce that my project will be supported by
@NEHgov
's Dangers and Opportunities of Technology program.
#NEHGrant
@EmoryUniversity
@emorycollege
NEH announces $26.2 million for 238 humanities projects across the U.S.
Grants will support exhibitions, films, digitization of historic collections, sustainability projects at museums & archives, advanced research, & programs in higher ed.
#NEHgrant
I’m quoted in this piece about the recent anti-feminist backlash in South Korea. I have a lot to say but here are two things I’d like to add: 1) Korean women are not protesting by using this 🤏 emoji. (The Twitter post is not correct & misleading) and it’s just one example of
Women in South Korea are protesting labor disparities by using an image similar to this 🤏 emoji to mock the size of men’s penises. Men are saying women are insulting their bodies.
I’m thrilled to announce that my article “Wikiality within the Manosphere: Namuwiki, Gender Equalism, and Antifeminist Disinformation in the Post-Truth Era“ is now published in
@signsjournal
.
Happy to share that my article is published in
@JCMSJournal
! I examine sticky note activism following the 2016 Gangnam station murder case in South Korea, which involved the posting of handwritten sticky notes in public spaces and the dissemination of images via digital media.
Introducing
@SCMStudies
grad writing award winning article "Sticky Activism: The Gangnam Station Murder Case and New Feminist Practices against Misogyny and Femicide" by
@JinsookKimPhD
in our upcoming summer issue, 60.4.
@ProjectMUSE
@M_Publishing
Highly recommend the K-drama
#LittleWomen
on Netflix. It’s an intriguing, intense, and compelling story about class and gender. Written by Jeong Seo-Gyeong, who has collaborated frequently with the director Park Chan-wook on films such as The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave.
The results are in! Congratulations to our 2021 award winners and thank you to all who submitted their work this past summer.
A full list of results is available here:
I had a chance to talk about the rise of anti-feminism in South Korea. You can learn more about how Korean feminist activists are fighting back in this
@npr
story.
Feminists in South Korea are planning to conduct nationwide protests this weekend in response to an anti-feminist wave that's made discourse around women's rights taboo — and led men to claim they are now the victims of gender discrimination.
Check out this event 👉"RM for President": K-Pop Protest Repertoires and Populist Soft Power by Prof. Michelle Cho
@mhc727
Please register via the following link:
Excited to announce that I've been awarded a research grant from
@KACAorg
and KOFICE to embark on my next project on K-culture. I will be able to compensate my interviewees for their valuable time 👏
Congratulations to the grant winners of the KACA-KOFICE Research Grant!
The KACA-AEJMC Vice President and the KACA-KOFICE Grant Committee announced the 2021 KACA-KOFICE grant recipients.
#kacakofice2022
Yesterday, it was my alma mater; today, this is happening at my current institution. How can they deploy rubber bullets and tear gas on students? It's truly shameful.
Look forward to charing this panel tomorrow at
#SCMS22
on gender, race, digital media, and transnational consumer culture! My presentation will be summarized as this 🤏 emoji...🙃
I'm glad to see this edited collection is finally out in the world. I wrote a chapter on the mobilization of the trope of motherhood in both progressive and conservative mothers' activism relating to the Sewol Ferry Disaster:
Now Available: "Mediating Gender in Post-Authoritarian South Korea" Edited by Jesook Song & Michelle Cho, this book is an interdisciplinary look at gender and sexuality in contemporary South Korea.
#OpenAccess
here:
Had a great time at the New Directions in Feminism and Media event over the last two days and learned a lot from all of the fascinating projects by feminist media scholars! Honored to be a part of this conference ✊🏻🌈
How did cyberbullying become profitable via digital platforms? Why does online harassment disproportionately target vulnerable groups? I’m quoted in this story by
@CLAIRE_D_AIRE
@AFP
on the recent deaths of two young public figures in South Korea.
However, I would like to respond to Nam Woong’s call to “contemplate the weight of solidarity and friendship” and continue to reflect on and put into practice what I can do. We can work towards building better relationships and communities as scholars and activists.
Indeed, it is a very common tactic in the US and elsewhere (외부세력 in Korean) to suppress political uprisings, delegitimize social movements, and divide protesters and supporters.
"Outside agitator" is a trope used throughout history in response to slave resistance, Reconstruction, labor movement, CRM, & more to dismiss & repress legitimate agency, intellect, & concerns of local people.
#McCarthyism
Read
@PenielJoseph
on topic⬇️
How can we read Squid Game from a transnational feminist perspective? Check out my article, “A Tale of Two Homosocialities: Gender, Sexuality, and Global Political Economy in Squid Game,” which I coauthored with the inimitable
@MinwooJungPhD
.
editors, and publishers, and requires us to reflect on the structure of colonial knowledge production, particularly in the context of so-called “area studies,” and to consider how we can speak with (rather than speak for or to) marginalized communities.
As someone who primarily writes about Korean feminist movements in English, I am aware that I am not free from the privileges that come with my position and the complex power dynamics inherent in US academia.
9 years ago, I came to the US for the first time to pursue my PhD degree and never imagined this moment would come. I am grateful for all of the support from my mentors and friends
@UTRTF
@AnnenbergCARGC
throughout this journey! I will continue to pay it forward 💛
I'm excited to be returning to Philly after 2 years to attend the International Symposium on Everyday Forms of Digital Activism and Resistance
@cdcspenn
. Check out this amazing lineup and please join us if you're around:
Excited to be heading to Denver for
#scms23
tomorrow! Join us this Friday for a panel on feminist media criticism featuring
@jhahnphd
,
@mengmengliu4
, and Sara Liao.
Happy New Year from my family in quarantine. Got word that my kid's classmate tested positive for Covid at her daycare. She is still too young to be vaccinated, but she can't even be tested until she shows any symptoms. Pandemic parenting is a never-ending series of worries.
Please take a moment to read this beautifully written yet provocative essay by
@MinwooJungPhD
. He illustrates how queer theory becomes the most privileged, imperial, and institutionalized form of knowledge within US academia.
It’s humbling that my article “Queer Theory Impossible,” published online first at Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, has been awarded the 2024
@SSSP1org
Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Outstanding Article Award as a co-winner.
organizing boycotts, and attacking feminist activists and scholars. The controversy itself is illustrative of the power of the backlash against the growing visibility of feminism in South Korea.
Join us Friday, April 12th for Guest Speaker Churan Zheng's talk. She will be giving a lecture on feminist activism in China amid state censorship and surveillance. The talk begins at noon on Zoom and is open to the Emory community:
2) I think some media outlets and populist politicians have been aggravating the situation by framing it as the controversy over misandry, rather than antifeminist backlash. As the article describes, antifeminist users have been creating a controversy over the image,
Attending the 2023
@AnnenbergCARGC
fellows' symposium Day 2 over Zoom.
@wagnercelest
is moderating a panel on global markets & cultural production, and
@yaseminyusufoff
is giving a presentation on the soft power of Turkish TV series. I also feel nostalgic.
Megalia’s counter-speech in the form of “mirroring,” a mirror-like gender-swapping strategy that turned misogynistic speech back on itself to reveal the prevalence of misogyny.
Today we read a chapter from
@srajabi
's book and explored the concept of symbolic trauma in my class "The politics of emotion: Love and hate in global media." There was a lot to talk about, from the 2017 travel restriction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
My daughter turns 4 years old today. She told me this morning that she dreamed about having a birthday party with some guests. It’s been almost a year now since this kid hasn’t gone to preschool.
Today marked the 7th anniversary of the Gangnam Station murder case in Seoul, South Korea, where a young woman was stabbed to death in a public restroom. This tragic incident sparked a huge controversy surrounding misogyny and femicide. In response, young Korean women,
Excited and honored to be part of this important symposium on image-based abuse! I’ll be speaking on the panel “Resistance” about how feminist activists in South Korea have been fighting back against digital sexual abuse.
Image Based Abuse: Prevalence, Resistance, Prevention: Save the date (December 2-3) for the 2021
#ASCmediarisk
Symposium in partnership with
@CCRInitiative
. This is shaping up to be a great event!
@bzelizer
Register today:
This week, Dr.
@everysol_
gave a virtual lecture to my Social Media & Cultures class. We read her
@icsjournal
article on Asian American beauty influencers. Students really enjoyed learning more about identity entrepreneurship, racial and gender politics, and K-beauty in the US.
Thrilled to be a part of the conversation on Southern Digitalities! I'll be joining a panel discussion on belonging and sharing my research on
#CancelKorea
, nationalist affects, and inter-Asian interactions and racial hierarchy. Looking forward to connecting with other scholars!
#IAS_NUQ
is thrilled to present
#SouthernDigitalities
, a conference
@NUQatar
that convenes a global community of scholars to ask: What can we learn about “the digital” by taking seriously digital practices, experiences, and infrastructures in the Global South?
Yay! I organized a panel on “K-culture” as a chair and the panel proposal got accepted to the ICA Popular Media & Culture Division. Look forward to the virtual
#ICA21
#ICAPopular
in May.
"Parasite and Squid Game are hardly unique in South Korean film and TV in their hopelessness about the capitalistic grind and the extreme lengths to which the economically desperate are willing to go."
Excited to be a part of this panel! We critically examine seemingly limitless applications of the “K” prefix and various cultural discourse & practices associated with “K-culture.”
#ICA21
#ICAPopular
The award committee mentioned, “[this study] goes beyond theory to practice making important interventions, not only in media studies but also in feminist activism. In short, this work matters to both our scholarship and our lives.” As a feminist scholar, this means a lot to me!
ut austin, where texas state troopers are barring students from accessing the other side of the campus. please look at this, i have never seen anything like this
I’m also happy to share that I have received a 2023-2024 University Research Committee(URC)-Halle Institute for Global Research Award. This award will enable me to focus on my book writing, and I am grateful for the support!
Walked around Penn’s campus for the first time. It’s a strange time to start a new job but I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet and work with new colleagues virtually.
Especially, this dissertation is deeply indebted to many feminist scholars and activists in South Korea. I would like to thank all my interviewees, who willingly shared their stories and experiences with me.
An event report on my talk “Sticky Activism: The Gangnam Station Murder Case and New Feminist Practices Against Misogyny and Femicide” is published in Synergy: The Journal of Contemporary Asian Studies. Thanks for covering it!
Though I have been studying the structure of hate for years now, I never get used to this feeling. Devastated by the news from Atlanta, another incident of anti-Asian, misogynistic hate crime. My heart goes out to the families of all the victims and the Asian American community.
Quick translation:
"I'm going to kill all the Asians," the gunman screamed, local media (Hanguk Ilbo Atlanta) reported, quoting an eyewitness who escaped to a neighbouring Korean shop.
My fellow postdoc
@AnnenbergCARGC
Hana Masri gave a talk about waste as communication, articulating how waste both indexes and animates meaning-making. What an insightful talk!
#CARGC2021
Looking forward to moderating this book talk hosted by
@DKScollective
. We will be discussing Dr. Bo Kyeong Seo's book, Whirling Days (휘말린 날들), with panelists Nam Woong and Yoon Won Chang. Register below.
Despite the harsh weather, I thank you all who have tuned in today and given me great feedback to develop my book project. Thanks
@AnnenbergCARGC
for giving me this opportunity 🧡
My department
@emorycollege
is hiring two Visiting Assistant Professors in Media Studies for next year. Please apply or pass along to anyone who might be interested.
Today, I met some of my colleagues in person for the first time after knowing them over Zoom since last August. And it was to say goodbye to
@heysoke
before she leaves Philly this weekend. What a strange time we are living in.
International Call for Applications for CARGC Postdoctoral Fellowship NOW OPEN! View fellowship details and apply before February 1, 2022 here:
@AnnenbergPenn
#CARGC2122
This Monday, I will give a talk at U of Iowa on South Korea's
#MeToo
movement and the risks of media visibility in the hybrid media environment. Here’s the link for the event:
House of Hummingbird is one of my favorite Korean films in recent years. You can watch it for free this weekend. Director Kim Bora is part of a new wave of female filmmakers in South Korea and this is her debut film!
📽️🎞️This weekend, enjoy the free streaming of HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD, a moving coming-of-age story of 14 year-old Eun-hee
🎙️Then join us this Sunday at 6pm for our conversation with the film's writer-director Bora Kim
🔗
My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Madhavi Mallapragada
@UTRTF
for her mentorship and I also thank my wonderful committee Drs. Shanti Kumar, Mary Beltrán, and Youjeong Oh for their support and feedback.
For those interested in learning more about the murder case, I wrote an article on how activism has led to alternative feminist media practices, combining analog and digital media, and broadening the context for new feminist voices. Read it here: