Biography

DPhil in Media and Cultural Studies, 2006 - Present, University of Sussex, UK

Ph.D. course work completion in Media and Communication, Seoul National University, South Korea

BA and MA in Media and Communication, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea

Role

Associate Tutor and DPhil Research Student in Media and Cultural Studies

My research investigates the precarious lives of contemporary young women in South Korea, focusing on their work trajectories and their immaterial labour/leisure via networked media such as the Internet and mobile phones. In doing so, I aim to explore how young women have been inventing their ways of life in the aftermath of the social changes since the IMF crisis, which is the crucial starting point of Korean transition into neoliberal society, and how it is interwoven with their ‘digital media ecology’ in South Korea.

In particular, I attempt to explore what kinds of experiences underemployed women have had and how they recognize and feel about themselves and 'the outer world' through these experiences, and how those recognition and feelings are articulated with their everyday media use. By doing so, I aimed to understand the link between the precarious lives of young women and their immaterial labour/leisure in contemporary society. To do so, I have done a year ethnographic fieldwork in 2007/2008 in Seoul, South Korea, doing participant observation, in-depth interviews and gathering autobiographies of unemployed young women.

Teaching Interest

My current teaching interest at this moment is directed at three subjects: everyday life and new media, media in the era of globalization, and gender/class identity and media. In short, I am interested in teaching how media are articulated with our everyday life in the era of globalisation and how it plays a role in reforming people's gender and class identities. I am also interested in general media studies courses.

Teaching Experience

• Associate tutor of "Introduction to Media Studies 2"at University of Sussex, UK. (Jan. 2009 ~ June 2009)
• Part time lecturer of "Media and Information Society" and "Internet and Cyber Society" at Chungnam National University, South Korea. (Sep. 2007 ~ Aug. 2008)
• Part time lecturer at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea: Taught "Media and Contemporary Society" for undergraduates. (June 2006 ~ Aug. 2006)
• Associate tutor for "Media and Information Society" at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea: Individual tutorials on ‘how to write an essay in social science'. (Sep. 2005 ~ Dec. 2005)