Yoonjung Kim is a doctoral researcher at MESH and the University of Cologne’s Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. She is also a fellowship-holder with a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities at the University of Cologne.
Yoonjung’s research interests focus on the formation and evolution of multispecies relationships in neoliberal South Korea. She is particularly interested in the impact of media and online platforms on the creation of new kinds of kinship and solidarity between humans and non-humans. Her recent research explores the highly gendered animal fan culture and animal care organizations in South Korea, as well as the social changes produced by the evolving animal discourse in the country. Her theoretical approach draws from environmental anthropology, affective economy, gender studies, fandom and media studies, and anthropology of kinship.
Yoonjung received her bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Duksung Women’s University and her master’s degree in Anthropology from Seoul National University. Her master’s thesis, titled “Practices and Affects of Young Viewers of Animal Content and Changing Human-Animal Relationships in South Korea,” explores emergent online human-animal relationships in South Korea. It focuses on the active surveillance and participation of viewers in the lives of animal protagonists and the affective relationships formed through viewership.
Contact: ykim10[at]smail.uni-koeln.de; yoonjkim127[at]gmail.com
Publication
- Kim, Yoonjung. 2023. Virtual animal lovers in South Korea: Lan-cable butlers, their practices, and affective networks. In Emerging Voices: The Proceedings of Anthrozoology as International Practice (AIP) 2021 Conference, The Exeter University as Symbiotic Ethics (EASE) Working Paper Series.
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Kim, Yoonjung. 2023. “Book review: Human-Animal Research Network 인간-동물 연구 네트워크, eds. 『관계와 경계: 코로나 시대의 인간과 동물』 [Relationship and boundary: Humans and non-human animals in the COVID-19 era]. Okcheon: Podobat Publishing Company 포도밭출판사, 2021; 260pp. ISBN 9791188501151.” Korean Anthropology Review 7: pp.171 – 176. https://kiss.kstudy.com/ExternalLink/Ar?key=4007682.
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Kim, Yoonjung. 2022. “귀여움이 열어젖히는 세계 [The World that Cuteness Opens Up],” magazine 『한편』[Hanpyeon], 민음사 [minumsa].
Talks and Conferences
Panels Organized
- Session Organizer/Presenter, Politics of Cuteness in East Asia. Association for Asian Studies, Annual Conference, Seattle, March 14-17, 2024.
Conference Presentations
- “Power of Everyday Emotions: How Young South Korean Animal Video Viewers are Moving Beyond Slacktivism.” Korean Youth: Spaces, Ecologies and Technologies. The University of Edinburgh, Jun 19-20, 2023.
- “I don’t know why, but I just LOVE watching him” - Finding happiness during the pandemic, the case of South Korean “Lan-cable butlers.” 13th Annual CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Feb 11-12, 2022
- “I am just an online care-taker” - An ethnography of virtual animal lovers in South Korea. International Conference of NextGen Korean Studies Scholars (NEKST 2021). University of Michigan, May 10-14, 2021
- Why are We Crazy about Animal Content?: The popularity of animal content in Korean society and its implication. Anthrozoology as International Practice (AIP2021). University of Exeter, March 04-05, 2021
- Living in Korea as women employees with high school diplomas. East Asian Anthropological Association (EAAA). Poster presentation. September 28, 2019
- 인종차별과 교환학생: 독일을 중심으로 본 유럽권 교환학생들의 경험과 기억 [Racism and Exchange Students: The experiences and memories of exchange students in Germany]. Humanity and Liberal Arts Symposium Cultural Anthropology and Marine Studies. Pukyong National University, Busan, November 02-03, 2018
Invited Lecture
- Duksung Women’s University, “Doing fieldwork in Cyberspace,” March 23, 2022
Teaching
- 2022-23 Winter Semester, MA-seminar: Academic Presentation and Discussion (Department of Korean Studies, University of Tübingen)
- 2023 Summer Semester, MA-seminar: Academic Presentation and Discussion (Department of Korean Studies, University of Tübingen)
- 2023-24 Winter Semester, MA-seminar: Academic Presentation and Discussion (Department of Korean Studies, University of Tübingen)