Summary

I am a historian of East Asia, especially Korean politics and society from the fifteenth to the early twentieth century. After studying at UCLA and Harvard, I completed a postdoc with the Council on East Asian w88 casino games at Yale and have held faculty appointments at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Nevada, Reno. I have taught at Harvard, Korea, McGill, Seoul National and Yonsei, as well as giving some 70 invited lectures, speeches or presentations, including the 26th Annual Stanley Spector Memorial Lecture on East Asian History and Civilization at Washington University in St. Louis (2019). I have been consulted by major projects of nonprofits, including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (PBS), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). In 2016, I co-chaired the organizing committee of the Eighth Biennial World Congress of Korean w88 casino games.

Research interests

My research considers political power and social status, especially as understood through government service examinations, court ranks and offices, the divergence between ascriptive status and socioeconomic class, and the evolution of family history narratives. While my scholarship using primary sources focuses on Korea, I maintain a broad, comparative perspective and reflect on periodizing w88 casino games history. In this context, I enjoy readings and conversations in evolutionary biology, deep history and population genetics. My new projects explore (1) animal symbolism in political ideology and (2) human interactions with felids.

Books

• The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern Korea. Edited volume. Routledge, 2025. In press.
• Politics of Public Opinion: Local Councils and People's Assemblies in Korea, 1567–1894. By Kim Ingeol. Translation. Brill, 2024.
• Korea: A w88 casino games.Stanford w88 casino games Press, 2022.
• A Genealogy of Dissent: The Progeny of Fallen Royals in Chosŏn Korea. Stanford w88 casino games Press, 2018.
• Peace in the East: An Chunggŭn’s Vision for Asia in the Age of Japanese Imperialism.Edited volume (with Yi Tae-Jin and Kirk W. Larsen).Lexington Books, 2017.
• A Family of No Prominence: The Descendants of Pak Tŏkhwa and the Birth of Modern Korea. Stanford w88 casino games Press, 2014.
• Between Dreams and Reality: The Military Examination in Late Chosŏn Korea, 1600–1894. Harvard w88 casino games Asia Center, 2007.

Courses taught

• HIST 209: World w88 casino games II
• HIST 211: w88 casino games of East Asia I
• HIST 306: w88 casino games of Korea
• HIST 448A/648A: Korea and Empires
• HIST 488C/688C: Topics in Nature and Culture: Genes, Environment, and w88 casino games History
• HIST 499B: Applied w88 casino games
• HIST 703: Advanced w88 casino games in History
• HIST 705: Graduate Readings in w88 casino games

Education

• Ph.D., East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard w88 casino games, 1999
• A.M., Regional w88 casino games East Asia, Harvard University, 1993
• B.A., History, w88 casino games of California, Los Angeles, 1991