National University of Singapore

Faculty Member, Department of History

Assistant Professor, & Associate Fellow @Tembusu College

FASS (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

Thesis Title: 한.미 협조: Origins of South Korean State Science (1945-1975)

About

    I work on EASTM, especially South Korean medicine (c. 1945-present), encompassing both traditional (TKM /  한의학)) and biomedicine (서양의학) as practice; and also have a growing interest in doing comparative work with Singapore, Taiwan, North Korea, and Japan for the period, 1945-present.  At NUS, our STS group is now in process with  a three year project (2010-2013), "Asian Biopoleis," devoted to the emerging role of the life sciences / biotech in "Asia" (broadly conceived), with the next meeting to be held in late July 2012. 

    I am working on two book projects of my own: (1) "Reconstructing Bodies: Biomedicine, Health,  and Nation-Building in South Korea since 1945," a book-length manuscript (2008-2011) concerning the formation / transformation of South Korean medicine, especially the medicalization of the body as an object of biomedical research, treatment, and intervention  (1945-present/ to be published by Stanford University Press (SUP), forthcoming 2013); and (2) "Visions of Light," a book project (2012? -2017?) on the problems associated with power generation--electrification / hydroelectric / nuclear--and related technical / infrasctructural issues in and around the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, NE Asia, covering the span from roughly the late 19th century to the present (1876-present).

I am also working with Drs. Hiromi Mizuno (Associate Professor, University of Minnesota) and Aaron Moore (Assistant Professor, Arizona State University) on an edited volume project, with a conference / meeting tentatively scheduled for 2013 at Tembusu College.
 
I am increasingly interested in collaborating on comparative work between NE Asia and SE Asia if there are interested parties, referring especially to the context of colonial and post-colonial scientific practice from the 18th to 21st cent.

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