Dr Sojin Yu
School of East Asian Studies
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow
Full contact details
School of East Asian Studies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
91Ö±²¥
S3 7RA
- Profile
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A sociologist by training, my research draws on interdisciplinary approaches, and I have an overarching focus on migration, race/ethnicity, gender, and nation. I am particularly interested in how migration relates to the construction of social categories and belonging in South Korea.
Before joining 91Ö±²¥, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland-College Park, examining women’s empowerment in the context of the Global South.
I joined SEAS as a lecturer in 2022. In 2024, I started as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, a position that I will hold until 2027. During my fellowship period, I will conduct my research project on language and migration in the context of South Korea.
- Qualifications
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PhD (University of Maryland- College Park)
MSc (University of Oxford)
BA (Sogang University)
- Research interests
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My research interests include migration, race/ethnicity, nation, and gender, particularly in contemporary South Korean society, and how these phenomena intersect with each other to inform the production of social inequality and everyday political understanding.
For my PhD dissertation, I conducted ethnography in migrant integration community centres in Korea to examine migrants’ social integration processes and the implications of such for South Korea as an emerging ‘multicultural’ nation. Drawing on critical race and intersectionality theory, I highlighted the gendered and racialised processes within the policy practices and everyday lived experiences of migrants.
I use both quantitative and qualitative research methods in my research, in the understanding that a mixed method skillset usefully expands one’s analytical purview.
I am currently developing several research projects that further explore immigrant politics and social inequality in Korea.
- Teaching activities
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I have two main pedagogical objectives: nurturing students’ critical analytical skills and engaging students interest in the topics that I teach. To achieve both goals, I endevour to offer within my classes various perspectives and theoretical viewpoints, and present interesting and thought-provoking examples from the world.
For the academic year 2022–23, I am teaching the following module:
EAS2043 Contemporary Korean Society
EAS3041 Researching Korea 1 (Migration, Nation, and
Citizenship in Contemporary South Korea)
EAS3042 Korea Research Project 1
- Publications
(Peer-reviewed journals)
Yu, S., Chen, F., & Desia, S. 2023. Aligning Household Decision Making with Work and Education: A comparative analysis of women's empowerment. Demographic Research, 48, 513-548.
Yu, S., 2022. Migrant Racialization in South Korea: Class and nationality as the central narrative. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46(10). pp.2089-2110.
Yu, S., 2020. Gendered Nationalism in Practice: An Intersectional Analysis of Migrant Integration Policy in South Korea. Gender & Society, 34(6), pp.976-1004.
Shin, J., Yu, S., and Lee, C. 2020. Systemic Racism and Racial Inequality: Focusing on recent racial issues in the United States. Journal of Democracy and Human Rights 20(4). 41-80. [in
Korean]Yu, S., and Chen, F. 2018. Life Satisfaction of the Cross-border Marriage Migrants in South Korea: Exploring the Social Network Effects. The International Migration Review, 52(2). 597-634.
(Public reports)
Yu, S. 2021. Citizenship in Korea. In The Korean Ministry of Justice. A Study for Advancing Immigration Laws and Policies in South Korea. [in Korean]
Yu, S. 2021. U.S. Immigration Policies and Its Implications for Korea. In A Study for Advancing Immigration Laws and Policies in South Korea. The Korean Ministry of Justice. [in Korean]
Lee, C., and Yu, S. 2013. Anti-Racial Discrimination in the U.S. In Shin, J. J., Choi, S., Lee, R., Lee, C., & Yu, S. A Study of Anti-Racial Discrimination Policy: A Case Study of USA, Canada
and Australia. International Organization for Migration (IOM). Migration Research and Training Report Series, No. 2013-05. [in Korean]