معرفی
Yewon Lee is a Junior Professor in the Department of Korean Studies at the Asien-Orient-Institut, University of Tübingen, where she has been serving since May 2021. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles (2019), an M.A. in Sociology from Yonsei University (2008), and a B.A. in Political Science and Diplomacy from Yonsei University (2006). Prior to her current role, she was a Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto and an Assistant Research Professor and Postdoctoral Fellow at the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies.
Her research focuses on urban and labor sociology, social movements, and politics in Korea and Asia. She employs ethnographic methods to study tenant shopkeepers’ activism in South Korea, examining how these micro-entrepreneurs resist eviction and challenge rentier capitalism. Her work reveals the urban inequalities embedded in property-based citizenship and analyzes grassroots efforts to counter them. She is currently preparing a monograph on this topic, which reframes conventional understandings of exploitation and collective action among the petit bourgeoisie.
Professor Lee’s publications in Social Forces, Focaal, and Critical Sociology reflect a consistent thematic focus on gentrification, exploitation, and urban resistance in South Korea. Her work demonstrates interdisciplinary engagement with sociology, anthropology, and Korean studies, emphasizing lived experiences and structural critique. These articles highlight a shift from individual survival to collective political agency among marginalized urban entrepreneurs.
Scientific Awards:
- American Sociological Association’s 2020 Labor & Labor Movement Section’s Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Graduate Student Paper Award
She advises BA and MA students and serves as the B.A. Program Director, emphasizing in-person meetings for thesis supervision and official matters requiring her signature. She does not conduct office hours online and requires appointments via Calendly. While no formal advisees are listed, her academic role suggests active involvement in student mentoring and curriculum development. She has received postdoctoral fellowships and research positions that indicate sustained funding and institutional support for her scholarship.
Professor Lee is affiliated with the Asien-Orient-Institut at the University of Tübingen, where she contributes to Korean studies through teaching and research. There is no mention of a formal lab or research team, but her independent ethnographic work suggests field-based collaborative networks in South Korea.
