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Yumi Moon

Assistant Professor of History

E-mail: ymoon@stanford.edu

Full Contact Information

At Stanford Since 2006

Ph.D., History and East Asian Language, Harvard University; M.A. and B.A. Seoul National University

Bio Sketch

I joined the department in 2006 after I completed my dissertation on the last phase of Korean reformist movements and the Japanese colonization of Korea between 1896 and 1910. In my dissertation, I revisited the identity of the pro-Japanese collaborators, called the Ilchinhoe, and highlighted the tensions between their populist orientation and the state-centered approach of the Japanese colonizers. Examining the Ilchinhoe’s reformist orientation and their dissolution by the Japanese authority led me to question what it meant to be collaborators during the period and what their tragic history tells us about empire as a political entity. I am currently working on a book manuscript centered on the theme of collaboration and empire, notably in relation to the recent revisionist assessments of empire. My next research will extend to the colonial period of Korea after the annexation and will examine what constituted colonial modernity in people’s everyday lives and whether the particulars of modernity were different in colonial and non-colonial situations. To explore these questions, I plan to look at the history of movie theaters in East Asia between 1890 and 1945, a subject which will allow me to study the interactions between the colonial authority, capitalists and consumers, as well as to look at the circulation of movies as consumed texts.

Research Interests

  • Modern Korea and Modern East Asia
  • Collaboration and Empire
  • Political Thoughts on Nationalism, Colonialism, and Democracy
  • Political Culture and Democratization
  • Colonial Modernity and Culture of Everyday Life

Publications and Conference Papers

  • “People, Foreigners, and the Conversion of Tonghaks: The Northwestern Provinces, 1896-1904” (a book chapter under progress)
  • The Populist Contest: the Ilchinhoe Movement and the Japanese Colonization of Korea, 1896-1910 Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 2005.
  • Ilchinhoe: a Forgotten History of the Populist reformers, Hyôndae Ilbon Hakhoe (Society of Contemporary Japanese Studies), Seoul National University, South Korea, October 2005.
  • “The Popular Movements in the Post-Kabo Period: the Case of Hwanghae Province,” The Second Workshop on the Northern Region, Identity, and Culture, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, February 2005.
  • “From Periphery to Social Frontier: P’yôngan Province, 1896-1904,” The Annual Korean Studies Graduate Student Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2003.

Grants and Awards

  • Korea Institute Dissertation Completion Grant, Harvard University 2003 - 2004
  • Scholarship for Doctoral Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute 1999 - 2002
  • Scholarship for Visiting Fellows, Harvard-Yenching Institute 1998 - 1999