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Sang-Keun Yoo
Assistant Professor of English
Bio
Dr. Sang-Keun Yoo earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Riverside, with a designated emphasis in Speculative Fiction and the Cultures of Science. His dissertation, supported by a Fulbright Fellowship and titled “Speculative Orientalism: Asian Religions in New Wave Science Fiction,” is slated for publication by Bloomsbury Academic in 2024. As the Submissions Editor for Asia and its Diaspora at the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Dr. Yoo also serves as the Korea Representative for the Science Fiction Research Association. His scholarly work has been published in a range of journals, including Science Fiction Film and Television and the International Journal of Korean History. Dr. Yoo has received several prestigious awards throughout his academic career, such as the Outstanding TA Award, Jamie Bishop Award, Walter James Miller Award, and an International Student Leadership Award.
Education
PhD, English, University of California-Riverside, 2022
MA, English, Seoul National University, 2014
BA, English/Philosophy, Seoul National University, 2011 (cum laude)
Research Interests / Areas of Focus
Science Fiction studies; Asian American Literature; Cultures of Science; Korean Popular Culture; Virtual Reality Studies
Monograph
Speculative Orientalism: Asian Religions in New Wave Science Fiction. Bloomsbury Academic, 2024 (forthcoming)
Book Chapter
"Cyberpunk Seoulŭl Nŏmŏ Silkpunk Jejuro" [From Cyberpunk Seoul to Silkpunk Jeju]. SF Prism: Geopolitics and Capital of Technology. Parkmunsa, 2023.
Selected Publications
“Decolonizing the Undead: South Korean Half-Zombies as Cultural Reappropriation.” Journal of Korean Studies (revision and resubmission)
“Becoming a Ghost: Newtrospective Representation of Historical Violence Through Virtual Reality Media in Gina Kim’s Bloodless and Tearless.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 34.2 (2023): 118-139
“Introduction: Newtrospection: Reverse-Engineering Modernity in South Korean Speculative Fiction.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 34.2 (2023): 9-24
“Mobilities in Anglophone Science Fiction History: Time Travel, Cyclical Temporality, and Virtual Mobility.” International Journal of Diaspora and Cultural Criticism 13.2 (2023): 48-76
"From Patriarchal History to Korean Ethnoformalist Speculative Empathy: Squid Game and The School Nurse Files." International Journal of Korean History 28.1 (2023): 215–43.
"Cyberpunk Seoulŭl Nŏmŏ Silkpunk Jejuro: Cyberpunk-sok Tongyangŭi Tosi Chaehyŏn" [From Cyberpunk Seoul to Silkpunk Jeju: Representation of Asian Cities in Cyberpunk]. Moonhwa/Gwahak [Culture/Science] 111 (2022): 73-87.
"Necropolitical Metamorphoses into Parasites: Bong Joon-ho’s The Host and Parasite." Science Fiction Film and Television 14.1 (2021): 45–69.
"Miraerosŏŭi Tongyang, Tongyangŭi Mirae: Miguk Science Fiction-kwa Techno-Orientalism" [Orientalized Future or the Future of Asia: American Science Fiction and Techno-Orientalism]. Tasi Kaebyŏk [Re-creation] 1.2 (2021): 18–35.
"Henry James’s Ghost Stories of the 1890s and Reality." American Studies 37.2 (2014): 111–57.
Grants and Fellowship
Fulbright Fellowship, Institute of International Education, 2016–2020
The Technology and Humanities Project Grant, University of San Diego, 2023
International Opportunity Grant, University of San Diego, 2022
Enhanced Student-Faculty Interaction Fund, University of San Diego, 2022
Humanities Graduate Student Research Grant, UC Riverside, 2020-21
Dissertation Year Program Fellowship, UC Riverside, 2020
Graduate Student Scholarship, Pacific Ancient & Modern Language, 2018
Association Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship, UC Riverside, 2016-20
Graduate Student Instructor Scholarship, Seoul National University, 2012-14
Outstanding Academic Performance Scholarship, Seoul National University, 2006-11
Honors
The Uplifter Award (Outstanding Service to the BIPOC Caucus), IAFA, 2023
Jamie Bishop Memorial Award (Best Non-English Language Paper), IAFA, 2023
Walter James Miller Memorial Award (Best Graduate Student Paper), IAFA, 2022
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, UC Riverside, Graduate Division 2020
Distinguished TA Award (honorable mention), UC Riverside, TA Development Program, 2020
International Affairs Recognition Award, UC Riverside, 2020
Outstanding International Student Leadership Award, UC Riverside, International Affairs, 2018
Chungsan Award for Creative Writing (Fiction), Chungsan, 2011
Outstanding Paper Award, Center for Teaching and Learning, Seoul National University, 2010
Distinguished Film Criticism Award, University Literature Prize, Seoul National University, 2007
Selected Invited Guest Lectures and Talks
“Mythic Metamorphosis: A Critique of Speculative Orientalism in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl" Invited Paper Presentation, The 4th Sungkyun Annual International Forum on Cultural Studies, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea, Dec 28, 2023.
“Do South Korean Science Fictions Dream of Decolonized Future?” Invited Paper Presentation, World Convention of the Korean Language, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea, Oct 6, 2023.
“Navigating the Landscape of South Korean Mass Media.” Undergraduate class at Marist College NY. Oct 3, 2023.
“Bong Joon-ho’s Cinema: Genre Aesthetics and Social Critique.” Undergraduate class at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Sep 23, 2023.
"Reimagining Decolonized Futures: The South Korean Mediascape of Science Fiction and Fantasy." Special Roundtable of AAS-in-Asia. Daegu, South Korea. Jul 26, 2023.
"Ken Liu’s 'The Paper Menagerie.'" Office of Resources for International and Area Studies at the UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California. Jun 23, 2023.
"Spatial and Temporal Mobility in Anglophone Science Fiction: Exploring Colonial Journeys, Cyclical Time, and Virtual Movement Exploring Colonial Journeys, Cyclical Time, and Virtual Movement." Academy of Mobility Humanities at Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea. May 26, 2023.
"Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'The Dispossessed.'" Undergraduate class at Hanyang University, Ansan, South Korea. May 23, 2023.
"From Techno-Orientalism to Asian Futurism." The Humanities Center at the University of San Diego, San Diego, California. Mar 23, 2023.
"Asia in Anglophone Science Fiction Tradition and Korean SF Futurism." Graduate course on American Science Fiction at Kyunghee University, Seoul, South Korea, Oct 1, 2022.
"Techno-Orientalism in American Visual Media." Media Philosophy. Graduate course at Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, May 26, 2022.
"Korea in Western Science Fiction History." Korea Creator Association, National Assembly of South Korea, Seoul, South Korea, May 2, 2022.
"Posthumanism in South Korean Zombie Films and TV Drama." Wonkwang University International Conference on Anthropocene Studies, Seoul, South Korea, Apr 23, 2022.
"The Birth of Speculative Orientalism in American Science Fiction History" Sungkyunkwan University International Cultural Studies Annual Forum, Seoul, South Korea, Dec 9, 2021.
"K-Pop’s Postmodernism and BTS Phenomenon." Good Morning Seoul, Arirang Radio, Seoul, South Korea, global broadcast, May 15, 2021.
"Media Ecology as Technology of Presence." Media Philosophy. Graduate course at Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, April 29, 2021.
"Nationalism and Imperialism in K-Pop, K-Drama and South Korean Science Fiction." Kritika Kultura. Guest lecture at Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines, August 16, 2018.
"Nostalgia, Escapism, and the Sub-Imperialistic Desire: Science Fiction Popular Culture in South Korea Post-2010." Undergraduate class at UCLA, California, May 24, 2017.
Selected Presentations
“Time Travel to the 1990s in South Korean Science Fiction: Reborn Rich as a Reflection of the Postpolitical” Modern Language Association, January 2024. Philadelphia, PA.
“Divinity through Silicon Eyes: Asian Religions, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism in Asian and Asian American Science Fiction,” Virtual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Nov. 2023. Online
"Becoming a Ghost: Newtrospective Representation of Historical Violence through Virtual Reality Media in Gina Kim’s Bloodless," AAAS, April 2023. Los Angeles, California.
"Ursula K. Le Guin's Taoism and Taoist Time," International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 2023. Florida.
"The Alien/Asian/Woman Triad in Philip K. Dick’s Short Stories (1950s–1960s)," The English Language and Literature Association of Korea, December 2022. Seoul, South Korea.
"Asians as Speculative Instruments in Contemporary American Science Fiction Media," American Comparative Literature Association, June 2022. Online.
"The Birth of Speculative Orientalism as a Reforming Engine of Science Fiction," Association for Asian Studies, March 2022. Honolulu, Hawaii.
"From Patriarchal History to Korean Ethnoformalist Speculative Empathy in South Korean Science Fiction Squid Game and The School Nurse Files," International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 2022. Florida.
"New Visibility of Transgenders and Refugees in Korean New Media," Modern Language Association, January 2022. Washington DC. Online.
"South Korean Zombie Films and TV Drama and its posthumanism," Science Fiction Research Association, June 2021. Online.
"Speculative Orientalism in Ursula Le Guin’s Tao Te Ching and The Word for World Is Forest," American Comparative Literature Association, April 2021. Online.
"Philip K. Dick’s Short Stories and Speculative Orientalism," International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, March 2021. Online.
"Necropolitical Metamorphoses into Parasites: Bong Joon-ho’s The Host and Parasite," Modern Language Association, January 2020. Seattle, Washington.
"The Orient at the Gate of Sf Disorientation: Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren," Science Fiction Research Association, June 2019. Honolulu, Hawaii.
"Recolonization of America and Indian Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula," Pacific Ancient & Modern Language Association, November 2018. Bellingham, Washington.
"Nationalism and Escapism in PSY’s Music Videos," Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, October 2018. Irvine, California.
"Professional Military Esports Players in S. Korea as Economic Warriors: The Sociotechnical Imaginary of Korea on Esports Industry," University of California, Irvine, Esports Conference, October 2018. Irvine, California.
"The Inequality of Shared Vulnerability in Biochemical Politics: Bong Joon-ho’s The Host," Association for Asian Studies-in-Asia, July 2018. New Delhi, India.
"Epistemology of Transnational Closet: Shyam Selvadurai's The Hungry Ghosts," Association for Asian American Studies, March 2018. San Francisco, California.
"The Ethics of Remembering Japan through a Camera and a Game: Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil and Level 5," (Dis)junctions, October 2017. Riverside, California.
"Time Travel and Justice of the Past within South Korean Science-Fiction Film and Drama," Inter- Asia Cultural Studies Society, July 2017. Seoul, South Korea
Selected Panel Chair and Moderation
"Remembrance and Representation in Afrofuturism," International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 2023. Orlando, Florida.
"Newtro-spection: Reverse-Engineering Modernity in South Korean Speculative Fiction–JFA Focused Edition Discussion," International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, October 2022. Online.
"Meeting with Rising South Korean Writers," International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, October 2022. Online.
"Korean Science Fiction and Decolonizing Posthumanism," International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, October 2022. Online.
"Overview of South Korean Science Fiction and Posthumanism," Science Fiction Research Association Annual Conference, June 2021. Online.
"Another Future: Speculative Fiction and Sociotechnical Imaginaries in South Korea," University of California Riverside, February 2019. Riverside, California.
"Postcolonialism and Posthumanism in Korea, Japanese, and Pakistani Science Fiction," Association for Asian American Studies-in-Asia, June 2018. New Delhi, India.
"Transformations of Mourning and Trauma in Language, Film and Performance," (Dis)Junctions, October 2017. Riverside, California.
"Cognitively Estranged Literature; Bridges of Narrative, Form, and Expression between Korea and the United States," Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society, July 2017. Seoul, South Korea.
Nonacademic Publications
"Science Fiction-ŭn Isip Ilseki Taehan Min'guk Sahoe-e ŏttŏn Message-rŭl Chulkka" [Interview with Sherryl Vint] Tasi Kaebyŏk [Re-creation] 1.4 (2021): 78–92.
"Konggongŭi Sidaeesŏ Pujokŭi Sidaero: ‘Jjeomo’ wa ‘Narak’ sai" [From the Age of the Public to the Age of Tribes: Between “0.5” and “Narak”]. Konggong Chŏngch'aek [Public Policy] 190 (2021): 74–80.
Taehakŭn Ije Kongbupŏllerŭl Wŏnhaji Annŭnda [Universities No Longer Want Nerds]. Seoul, South Korea: Book21, 2012.
Kwanggosokŭi Punsin [Your Alter Ego in the Commercial]. [Creative writing, novel]. Seoul, South Korea: Chungsan, 2011.
"The Sunshine of Secret and Camera: Chang-Dong Lee’s Secret Sunshine." Seoul National University News, December 2007.
Translations
Vint, Sherryl. "Solidarity and Community in Science Fiction Today." Seoul Museum of Art Exhibition Catalog, August 21, 2020. English to Korean
Ha, Ilji. "South Koreans and Adultery." International NY Times, April 1, 2014. Korean to English. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/opinion/south-koreans-and-adultery.html)
Kim, Kyung Ju. I Am a Season that Does Not Exist in the World. Boston, Massachusetts: Black Ocean. 2015. Co-translation with Jake Levine. Korean to English.
Service to the Field
Guest Editor for Special Issue of South Korean SF, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, May 2022-Present
Submission and Review Editor for Asia and its Diaspora, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, May 2022-Present
Director of International Relations, Korean Association of Popular Narratives, May 2022–Present
Science Fiction Research Association Korea Representative, March 2021-Present
Faculty Mentor for Graduate Students of IAFA, Virtual International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts Mentorship Program, October 2022
External Consultant for Science Fiction Publications, Book 21 Publishing Company, Seoul, South Korea, March 2019–February 2020
Service to the Institution
President, Korean Graduate Students and Faculty Association, University of California, Riverside, September 2018–August 2019
Vice-President, Graduate Students of English Association, University of California, Riverside, September 2017–August 2018