minwoojung.bsky.social
Sociologist at Loyola University Chicago
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This is one of the most striking reads of the day. Thanks for sharing.
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For over 400 days, activists have held a one-person daily protest outside the Israeli embassy in Seoul, urging an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Korean arms sales. They also hold biweekly marches and this month launched a “No Pride in Genocide” campaign in solidarity with queer Palestinians.
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Teacher Ji Hye-bok has protested over 500 days for reinstatement after being dismissed for exposing sexual violence at her school. Her legal battle to invalidate her unfair transfer has now begun. Her stand highlights systemic failures protecting students and whistleblowers.
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In Gumi, worker Park Jeong-hye has protested on a factory rooftop for over 500 days, demanding fair employment after Japanese-owned Korea Optical High Tech laid off workers but kept production elsewhere. She leads a national petition calling for a parliamentary hearing on layoffs and job security.
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That sounds amazing and meaningful!
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Amazing news! Big big congratulations and wish you a smooth transition to Boston!
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It seems that the essay is available as open access, but if anyone needs a PDF copy, please feel free to DM or email me (I reposted this thread due to a typo!).
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I discuss the importance of considering multiple forms of empire and subimperial powers (e.g., South Korea) in shaping the current global order, the global connections among right-wing projects, and the potential transnational resonance in exploring feminist/queer joy in resistance and solidarity.
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We explore how empire, race, and sexuality intersect with historical and contemporary state violence, occupation, and technological hegemony. We emphasize how the global South has been used as a laboratory of empire and how struggles and resistance can be reimagined outside of imperial frameworks.
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Amazing news! Remember I told you the other day that it’s gonna win an award?! Such an important work. Big congratulations! 🎉
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“We strive to cultivate a space rooted in radical trust where our shared knowledge and responsibility foster growth and repair… We are dedicated to deepening this work as we envision Korean studies grounded in justice, equity, and collective liberation.”
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“We seek to change how Korean studies is practiced: what we study, how we study, and for whom. For us, decolonizing Korean studies is not a metaphor. It is a deliberate and ongoing process that demands structural change, collective care, and new imagination.“
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Big congratulations! I’m still waiting for my teaching assignment for Spring 2026, but if I end up teaching a grad seminar, I’ll find a way to assign your book. I’m so excited for you and can’t wait to learn more as I read it.
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Amazing news! Big congratulations! They’re so lucky to have snatched you for the West Coast. I have a brilliant Korean colleague who’s a PhD student there, and she’ll benefit greatly from your presence. I’m so happy for you!
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These denialist movements are globally connected, with far-right protesters heckling mourners, defacing memorials, and denying the existence of Japanese-run comfort stations. This is part of a long-organized international effort, as seen in the controversy over Harvard economist Ramseyer's article.
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Far-right attacks and denial of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery have intensified under the recently impeached President Yoon, who backed “new right” figures and policies seen as favoring historical revisionism, undermining reparations and denying Japan’s responsibility for wartime atrocities.
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Her funeral is set for May 14, the day of the 1,700th Wednesday Protest (weekly rallies for “comfort women” survivors), where activists and citizens will push to amend the Comfort Women Victim Protection Act amid rising far-right harassment and denialism aimed at erasing Japan’s wartime crimes.
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Born in Busan in 1928, she was forcefully taken to a Japanese military brothel in China at 14. After the war, she stayed in China until returning to South Korea in 2000. From 2002, she spoke out internationally, demanding Japan’s apology and legal responsibility for wartime sexual violence.
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As a sociologist with a joint appointment in Women’s & Gender Studies, this reflects a troubling global trend we’ve observed in recent years: women’s, gender and sexuality studies being forcefully defunded, merged, downsized, or closed under economic or political pressures, including across the US.
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Students, alumni, and civic groups condemned the move as undemocratic and lacking transparency, calling it a “project to kill women’s studies,” warning it threatens a vital feminist space for scholarship and activism in South Korea’s conservative Daegu-Gyeongbuk region.
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In South Korea, the Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee, along with university students, alums & citizens, condemns Ewha Womans University’s theater for canceling the Korean Queer Film Festival on religious grounds, calling it a discriminatory attack on queer visibility and expression.
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In this statement, ILGA Asia emphasizes its commitment to decolonial, intersectional, and justice-centered movement building, and affirms its “solidarity with the people of Palestine, and with all communities enduring state-sanctioned violence, colonialism, and genocide.”
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This controversy is far from isolated. Across global academia, from South Korea to the US, from postcolonial democracies to imperial centers, some scholars willingly trade critical integrity for access to power, presenting themselves as apolitical technicians while legitimizing authoritarian rule.
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In response, a growing coalition of students, alumni, and citizens has called for Professor Kim’s resignation from the campaign, citing a serious breach of academic integrity, particularly troubling given his scholarship in civil society, political sociology, and immigration.
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Their visit includes a press conference, public forum, film screenings, and a War Memorial tour to spark reflection in Korean society. Civil groups are fundraising in solidarity with the survivors’ call for truth, justice, and peace. Please donate if you have a Korean bank account.
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In June 2025, two Vietnamese women—both named Nguyễn Thị Thanh and survivors of massacres by South Korean troops—will visit South Korea. Despite deep trauma, they return with courage to continue their legal fight for transitional justice and to speak directly to Korean lawmakers and the public.
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We must continue to ask how we define the field of sexualities, how to bring in intersectional, transnational, and decolonial perspectives, and what it means to do sexualities research in these critical times. I’m grateful to play a small part in this important conversation.
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Here is a link to the full-text, read-only version of the article. Please let me know if you need a PDF copy: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
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The article’s theoretical framework has completely shifted—from an ethnographic expansion of world society theory to a decolonial critique of cosmopolitanism—and has been shaped by my evolving understanding of, and relationship with, the field both within academia and in the activist world.