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Kyeyoung Park

Professor

Areas of Interest: Activism, Anti-Asian Racism, Asian-Black-Latino Relations, Comparative, Critical Racial and Ethnic Studies, Diaspora, Ethnography, Migrant, Transnational Community and Culture

Phone: 310-206-3363

Email: kpark@anthro.ucla.edu

Office:

UCLA Anthropology 383 Haines Hall Box 951553 Los Angeles, CA 90095

Curriculum Vitae

Biography

Kyeyoung Park 박계영 is a Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies at UCLA.

I am a sociocultural anthropologist.  The question of inequality, my life-long scholastic interest, is naturally tied to questions of social justice, social change, and social movement.  Accordingly, I heavily focus on culture in motion and the migration of people. Particularly I concentrate on cases of displaced people and their relation to structures of political economy and critical race and comparative ethnic studies and now, in a broad sense, their relationship to transnationalism and globalization.  I am also the author of a book, LA Rising: Korean Relations with Blacks and Latinos after Civil Unrest (2019), published by Lexington Books.  LA Rising develops neo-Marxist scholarship with intersectional analysis by examining multi-racial/ethnic tensions in South Central LA.  I define axes of inequality in the U.S. as they relate to race, citizenship, class, and culture.  My main objective is to explore how these axes of inequality have made an indelible impact on racial minorities and their relationship with each other.

My first book, The Korean American Dream: Immigrants and Small Business in New York City (1997), by Cornell University Press, is the winner of the Association for Asian American Studies’ Book Award.  This book examined why Koreans gravitate to small businesses and demonstrated how the structural imperatives of this process lead to transformations of concepts around gender, kinship, family, politics, and religion, and, more broadly, the transformation of cultural beliefs and ideologies.  Besides these two monographs, I have co-written and co-edited three more books: Korean Americans’ ethnic relationship in Los Angeles; Korean American Economy; 태평양을 넘어서: 글로벌시대 재미한인의 삶과 활동 (Cross the Pacific: The Lives of Korean Americans and their Socio-Political Engagement in the Global Age).  In addition, I edited/co-edited three special issues of peer-reviewed journals: Second Generation Asian Americans’ Ethnic Identity (Amerasia Journal 1999) and How Do Asian Americans Create Places?  Los Angeles and Beyond (Amerasia Journal 2008); Emigration and Immigration: The Case of Korea (Urban anthropology 2014).  My current research projects are about the Korean immigrant communities in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay and the second generation Korean American Transnationalism.  I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University (1998-99) and a fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation (1997-98).  I also served on the National Advisory Board of a multi-year national public education project sponsored by the American Anthropological Association and funded by NSF and the Ford Foundation on Race and Human Variation.

Education

Ph.D., City University of New York, 1990

Research Interests

Urban anthropology; Inequality (e.g., race, class, and gender); identity; migration/diaspora; transnational and global processes; social change and social movement; critical and multicultural theory; Korean/Asian American Community; Korean/Asian Diaspora; Koreans/Asians in Latin America

Publications

Books and Special Issues of Journals

  • 2020  Cross the Pacific: The Lives of Korean Americans and their Socio-Political Engagement in the Global Age (태평양을 넘어서: 글로벌시대 재미한인의 삶과 활동). (with Yoo, Chul-In, Kyung Koo Han, Eun-Ju Chung, Jae-Hyup Lee, Jung-Sun Park, Hyun Hee Kim, and Jeong Duk Yi).  Hakgobang.
  • 2019  LA RISING: KOREAN RELATIONS WITH BLACKS AND LATINOS AFTER LATINOS AFTER CIVIL UNREST.  Lexington Books (imprint of the Rowman & Littlefield Pub.)
  • 2014  Emigration and Immigration: The Case of Korea.  Special Issue of URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY 43 (4) (Ed).
  • 2009  KOREAN AMERICAN ECONOMY AND COMMUNITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY.  Co-edited with Eui-Young Yu, Hyojoung Kim, & Moonsong Oh).   Los Angeles: Korean American Economic Development Center.
  • 2008  How Do AsianAmericans Create Places? Los Angeles and Beyond.  Special Issue of AMERASIA JOURNAL (Ed).
  • 2008  KOREAN AMERICANS ETHNIC RELATIONSHIP IN MULTIETHNIC LOS ANGELES (with Young-Kyun Yang, Okpyo Moon, Jeongduk Yi, and Su-hong Chae); in Korean).  The Academy of Korean Studies.
  • 1999  Second Generation Asian Americans’ Ethnic Identity.  Special Issue of AMERASIA JOURNAL.   Co-edited with Pyong Gap Min.1997  THE KOREAN AMERICAN DREAM: IMMIGRANTS AND SMALL BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY.   Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Articles and Chapters

  • 2018  From Vendedor to Fashion Designer: Korean Immigrants in South American Textile Industries. ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies LATIN AMERICA AND ASIA (FALL 2018): 27-29. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/vendedor-fashion-designer De vendedores a diseñadores de moda; Inmigrantes coreanos en la industria de textiles sudamericanas. ReVista (FALL) ESPAÑOL https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/de-vendedores-dise%C3%B1adores-de-moda-inmigrantes-coreanos-en-la-industria-de-textiles (TRANSLATION INTO SPANISH)
  • 2016  Analysis of Latino-Korean Relations in the Workplace: Latino Perspectives in the Aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest.  In ANTHROPOLOGY OF LOS ANGELES: CITY, IMAGE, AND POLITICS.  Jenny Banh and Melissa King, Editors.  Lexington Books (an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers).
  • 2014  A Rhizomatic Diaspora: Transnational Passage and the Sense of Place among Koreans in Latin America. URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY 43 (4): 481-517.
  • 2014  Introduction: Emigration and Immigration: The Case of Korea. URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY 43 (4): 311-327.
  • 2014  Transnational Migrant Workers and the Politics of Culture: Conceptual Discussion. CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY AND MULTICULTURE 4 (2): 90-121.
  • 2014  Professor Lee Kwang-Kyu. Special Issue Dedicated to the First Anniversary of Late Prof. Lee Kwang-kyu. STUDIES OF KOREANS ABROAD 34:19-26 (in English) & 27-33 (TRANSLATION INTO KOREAN).
  • 2014  The “Foxes” Outfoxed: Contentions between Koreans and Jews in South American Textile Industries. DIALECTICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 38 (1): 17-39.
  • 2012  Analysis of Latino-Korean Relations in the Workplace: Latino Perspectives in the Aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest. AMERASIA JOURNAL 38 (1): 143-169.
  • 2010  Sources and Resources of Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurship. CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY 36 (6) November: 891-896.
  • 2009 Introduction (Co-written with Hyojoung Kim, Moonsong Oh, & Eui-Young Yu). In KOREAN AMERICAN ECONOMY AND COMMUNITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY. Co-edited with Eui-Young Yu, Hyojoung Kim, & Moonsong Oh, 1-28. Los Angeles: Korean American Economic Development Center.
  • 2008  The Contested Nexus of Los Angeles Koreatown: Capital Restructuring, Gentrification, and Displacement (with Jessica Kim). AMERASIA JOURNAL 34 (3): 127-150.
  • 2008  How Do AsianAmericans Create Places? Los Angeles and Beyond. Special Issue of AMERASIA JOURNAL (Ed).
  • 2008  Foundations of Violence: Korean Vendors and Powerless Customers in South Central Los Angeles. In KOREAN AMERICANS ETHNIC RELATIONSHIP IN MULTIETHNIC LOS ANGELES (in Korean), 221-267. The Academy of Korean Studies.
  • 2008  Introduction: Korean American Studies and the Los Angeles Korean American Community. In KOREAN AMERICANS ETHNIC RELATIONSHIP IN MULTIETHNIC LOS ANGELES (with Jeongduk Yi; in Korean), 11-43.  The Academy of Korean Studies.
  • 2005  Korean Americans.  In MULTICULTURALISM IN THE UNITED STATES, 281-297. Lorman A. Ratner and John D. Buenker, editors. Greenwood Press.
  • 2005  Koreans in the United States. In ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DIASPORA, 993-1003. Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, and Ian Skoggard, editors. New York: Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University.
  • 2004  Challenging the Liquor Industry In Los Angeles. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY 24 (7/8): 103-136.
  • 2004  Where Do We Go From Here? The Virginia Tech Shootings and the Korean American Community. JOURNAL OF KOREAN LANGUAGE EDUCATION 20: 89-120.
  • 2002  10,000 Senora Lees: The Changing Gender Ideology in the Korean Diaspora as Reflected in the Clothing Industry.  AMERASIA JOURNAL 28 (2): 161-180.
  • 2000 Sudden and Subtle Challenge: Disparity in Conception of Marriage and Gender in the Korean American Community.  In CULTURAL COMPASS: ETHNOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF ASIAN AMERICA, 159-74. Martin Manalansan, editor.  Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • 2000  The Unspeakable Experiences of Korean Women Under Japanese Rule. WHITTIER LAW REVIEW 21(3): 567-619.
  • 1999  “I’m Floating in the Air”: Creation of a Korean Transnational Space among Korean-Latino-American Re-Migrants.”  POSITIONS: EAST ASIA CULTURES CRITIQUE 7(3): 667-695.
  • 1999  “I Really Do Feel I’m 1.5!”: The Construction of Self and Community by Young Korean Americans.”  AMERASIA JOURNAL 25(1): 139-64.
  • 1998  Attitudes Toward Patient Autonomy Among Elderly Korean-Americans. (With G. Frank, L. Blackhall, S. Murphy, and V. Michel). MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY 12(4): 403-423.
  • 1998  The Rise of Sisters in Korean America: The Shift to Women- Centered Kin Organization (in Korean). In KOREAN ANTHROPOLOGY: ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROSPECTS, 415-443. The Editorial Committee. Seoul, Korea: Gipmundang
  • 1997  THE KOREAN AMERICAN DREAM: IMMIGRANTS AND SMALL BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
  • 1997  Multicultural Friendship Tour to Korea.  ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER  American Anthropological Association  (October), 23.
  • 1996  Use and Abuse of Race and Culture: Black/Korean Tension in America. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 98 (3): 3-11.
  • 1996  The Morality of a Commodity:  A Case Study of ‘Rebuilding L.A. without Liquor Stores.  AMERASIA JOURNAL 21:1-27.
  • 1995  The Re-Invention of Affirmative Action: Korean Immigrants’ Changing Conceptions of African and Latin Americans.  URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY 24: 59-92.
  • 1995  Black/Korean Tension: Triangulating Class at the Crossroads of Race and Ethnicity. In KOREA AND THE WORLD: STRATEGIES FOR GLOBALIZATION, 3-23. Eui Hang Shin & Yan Kim, editors. Columbia, SC: Center for Asian studies at the University of South Carolina.
  • 1994  The Korean-Black Conflict and the State.  In THE NEW ASIAN IMMIGRANTS IN LOS ANGELES AND GLOBAL RESTRUCTURING, 264-94. P. Ong, E. Bonacich, and L. Cheng, editors. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • 1994  The End of an Ideology: Korean Americans Analyzing April 29th. PEACE RESEARCH 2: 65-100. Artesia, CA: The Pacific Institute for Peacemaking.
  • 1990  Conception of Ethnicities by Koreans: The Workplace Encounters. KOREA OBSERVER XXI (1): 13-30.
  • 1989  Born Again: What Does It Mean to Korean-Americans in New York City? JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES 3 (2): 289-303.
  • 1989  Impact of New Productive Activities on the Organization of Domestic Life: A Case Study of the Korean American Community. In FRONTIERS OF ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES, 140-50. Gail M. Nomura et al., editors. Pullman: Washington State University.

Awards

2016-19 The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Education and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the academy of Korean Studies, Research Grant: How Do Second Generation Korean Americans Traverse a Transnational World?

2016-17 UHI (Urban Humanities Institute), UCLA, Faculty Research Seminar (Invitee)

2012-14 Korea Foundation, Center for Korean Studies (CKS), UCLA; E-School (Korean Studies) Courses for Latin AmericaKorea foundation, Center for Korean Studies (CKS), UCLA

2013-14 Korea foundation, Center for Korean Studies (CKS), UCLA

2006-11 The Academy of Korean Studies, Deputy Program Chair, Korean Studies in Latin America, CKS

2009-10 The International Institute at UCLA, “Korean Routes of Migration in the Americas” America (PI)

2008-09 The Overseas Korea Foundation, Translation Grant for the Korean American Dream; Immigrants and Small Business in New York City; AAP (Academic Advancement Program) Faculty Recognition Award, UCLA

2005-06 The Academy of Korean Studies, Research Grant (Investigator): Korean American Encounters with Other Ethno-Racial Groups in the U.S.; The Korean American Economic Development Center, (Community) Research Grant

2001-02 Institute of American Cultures and ISOP Faculty Research Award, UCLA; “Manufacturing Textile, Producing Differentiation: A South American Case of Korean Immigrant Textile Industry.”

1998 Outstanding Book Award (Association for Asian American Studies) for book, Korean American Dream

1997-98 Visiting Scholar Award, Russell Sage Foundation

1996-97 Institute of American Cultures, UCLA, “The Making of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture: 1992 Los Angeles Crisis and Korean, African, and Latin Americans.”

1993-97 Academic Senate Grant, UCLA, “The Making of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture: 1992 Los Angeles Crisis and Korean, African, and Latin Americans.”

1993-96 Center for Pacific Rim Studies, University of California, “Immigration Experience and Quality of Life: A Cross-National Study of Japanese and Koreans (in Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, and Seoul).” (Collaborator)

1994-95 Faculty Career Development Award, UCLA; Institute of American Cultures, UCLA, “The Korean American Dream: Discourses on Small Business Activities, Identities, and Cultures in Queens, New York.”

1993-96 National Institute of Health: Department of Health and Human Services; Public Health Service, “Ethnicity and Attitudes Toward Advance Care Directives.” (Investigator)

1992-93 Division of Graduate School, UCLA, “Ethnicity and Socio-Political Participation in Los Angeles.” (Co-Principal Investigator)

1992-93 Center for Pacific Rim Studies, University of California, “Emergence of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Asian Immigrants in Los Angeles County: Medical and Cultural Factors.” (Collaborator)

1990 Service Award, Korean American Association of Flushing1998 Outstanding Book Award in History and Social Science, Association for Asian American Studies

Kyeyoung Park

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