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Kyung Hee Ha

Asst Professor

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Withers Hall 201

Bio

Informed by critical scholarship in ethnic studies, Japanese cultural studies and postcolonial feminism, Ha’s research engages with subaltern knowledge production among Zainichi Koreans (Korean postcolonial exiles and their descendants in Japan) at the crossroads of North Korea, South Korea, Japan and the United States. As a critical ethnographer and a co-organizer of Japan’s first intersectional feminist seminar series, Ha strives to expand and transform the existing theory and praxis for social justice by focusing on the intersection of race, gender and colonialism.

Professional Activities and Research

Edited Volume

2022 Inta-sekushonaru feminizumu [Toward Intersectional Feminism] Tokyo: Horinouchi Shuppan. (Japanese), co-edited with Keiko Atsuta, Yuriko Iino and Satoko Yang-Nagayama.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

2020 “Dilemma of Multicultural Coexistence: Korean Schools in Japanese Society.” Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia for the special issue, “Friends and Foes of Multicultural East Asia” eds. Naoto Higuchi and Yuki Asahina. Vol. 19, 2 (2020): 20-39.

2020 “Intasekushonariti ni hirakareta ba no tameni” [“For Intersectional Feminism.”] Gendai Shiso. Feb. 18, 2020: 147-159. (Japanese)

2018 “Cultural Politics of Transgressive Living: Socialism Meets Neoliberalism in Pro-North Korean Schools in Japan.” Social Identities for the special issue, “Postsocialist Landscapes, Revolutionary Times: On the Politics and Ethics of Protest” eds. Kalindi Vora and Neda Atanasoski. Vol. 24, 2 (2018): 189-205.

2016 “Zainichi Koreans [Koreans from Japan] in the U.S.: Negotiating Multiple Displacement and Statelessness.” PAN JAPAN: The International Journal of the Japanese Diaspora for the special issue, “Conjecturing Communities: The Ebbs and Flows of Japanese America.” ed. Lane Ryo Hirabayashi. Vol. 11, 1 & 2 (2016): 41-67.

Book Chapters

Forthcoming
(2024) “Intersection of Gender, Race and Nationalism: Zainichi Korean women and hate speech in Japan” Handbook of Global Migration and Japan. eds. Shinnosuke Takahashi and Yasuko Hassall Kobayashi. (Amsterdam University Press)

Forthcoming
(2023) “Decolonial Possibilities: Transpacific Feminist Movement for Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery Issue” Feeling Transpacific Current(s). eds. Lily Wong, Christopher B. Patterson, and Chien-ting Lin. (University of Washington Press)

2019 “Of Transgression: Zainichi Korean Immigrants’ Search for Home(s) and Belonging.” (pp. 137-151) Japanese American Millennials: Identity, Community, and Culture. eds. Michael Omi, Jeffrey T. Yamashita, and Dana Y. Nakano. (Temple University Press, 2019)

2012 “Zainichi Koreans (Koreans in/from Japan): Replanting Our Roots.” (pp. 119-130)
Co-authored with Kei Fischer. Koreans in America: History, Culture, Identity. ed. Grace Yoo. (Cognella Academic Publishing, 2012).

Other Journal Articles

2022 “Onlain de jenda to tayosei wo tsunagu: femizemi no torikumi” [“Bridging Gender and Diversity Online: Femi-zemi’s case”] Le Simone. Vol. 6 (July 2022): 93-99. (Japanese)

2021 “Senbetsu sareru jinken to mainoriti no seiji” [“Human Rights Classified, Minority Politics in the Olympics] f visions. No. 4 (Dec 2021): 32-34. (Japanese)

2018 “Kantaiheiyo Shakaiundo no Kanosei: San Furansisuko no ‘Ianfu’ Memoriau ga nagekakerumono” [“Transnational Justice Movement: In the Case of San Francisco’s Comfort Women Column of Strength.”] The Report on Japan’s War Responsibility. No. 90 (Summer 2018): 2-7. (Japanese)

2018 Introduction and translation of “The Comfort Women were ‘Prostitutes’: The Japanese consul general in Atlanta’s remarks cause repercussions.” The Japan Focus: Asia Pacific Journal. Feb 15, 2018. Vol. 16, Issue 4, No. 2.

2012 “Kankoku Zaigai Tohyo no Jitsugen ga Zainichi Chosenjin ni imisurumonoha” [“What it Means for Zainichi Koreans to Have Voting Rights in South Korea.”] Women in the 21st Century. No. 72 (2012): 4. (Japanese)

2010 “Shimonounatsu ni kansuru Ichikosastu: ‘Zaibei’ suru ‘Zainichi’ no shiten kara” [“Thinking the Fingerprinting in the 21st Century: From the Perspective of Transnational Zainichi.”] The Bulletin of the Institute of Japanese Studies. Osaka University. No. 29 (2010): 75-77. (Japanese)

Conference Proceeding

2013 “Zainichi Korian to Bunka” [“Zainichi Koreans and Culture.”] Who Owns Culture?: Beyond Nation-State (Symposium Proceeding). Graduate School of Humanities, Meiji University (2013): 21-31. (Japanese)

Education

Ph.D. Ethnic Studies University of California, San Diego

M.A. Ethnic Studies San Francisco State University

B.A. Sociology Yokohama City University