Sinwoo Lee
Research
Dr. Sinwoo Lee is a historian of early modern and modern Korea and East Asia. Broadly speaking, Lee’s research interests are in the fields of urban history, material culture, law and society, and memory studies. Her current research project explores Seoul’s urban transformation in the early modern and modern period. More specifically, Lee focuses on Seoul’s transformation from a walled to an open space and the various historical actors, ranging from the Korean state, multiple imperial powers, and ordinary residents in the city, who participated in this process. In doing so, she reveals that Seoul at the time served as an arena of contestation and negotiation among diversely situated groups who strove to carve out their places in the changing world order.
Teaching
Lee has previously taught at UCLA, Claremont McKenna College, and the Underwood International College at Yonsei University. At CSU Chico, Lee teaches courses in History and Asian Studies. Her regular course offering includes “Introduction to Asian Studies” (ASST 110); “East Asia Before 1800” (HIST 373); “East Asia After 1800” (HIST 374); and “Modern China” (HIST 475).
Select Publications
“Discussion and Policies on Unlawful Occupation of Commoners’ Houses (yŏga t’arip) in Late Chosŏn Korea.” Hangrim 53 (2024. 3): 149–189 (in Korean).
“The Square in Closed: Kojong, the Independence Club, and the Politics of Streets in Late Nineteenth-Century Korea.” Journal of Asian Studies [accepted in 2023; forthcoming in 2025].
“A Capital Idea: Social and Economic Implications of Ritual Space in Kaegyŏng during the Early Koryŏ Period,” co-authored with Howard Kahm, Journal of Asian History 56, no. 1–2, (2022): 27–52.
“Blurring Boundaries: Mixed Residence, Extraterritoriality, and Citizenship in Seoul, 1876–1910.” The Journal of Korean Studies 21, no. 1 (2016): 71–100.
Courses offered:
HIST 474 Modern Korea