Biography

I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Seoul, South Korea for much of my childhood and school years before heading to Duke University for my undergraduate studies. At Duke, I grew interested in topics related to the Middle East, Muslim societies, and the Arabic language, while continuing to be engaged in East Asian studies and Chinese linguistic training that I had started in Korea as a high school student. I participated in several study abroad programs in Doha, Beijing, and Tunis, and moved on to complete a Ph.D. in History and a Certificate in History and Anthropology at Duke University. Between 2021 and 2023, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Göttingen in Germany as a part of the project “Worldmaking from a Global Perspective: A Dialogue with China,” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education. I then joined Simon Fraser University at the end of 2023.

Research Interests

I am dedicated to bridging divides between area studies by employing perspectives and methods in transnational history, and history and anthropology. My research is driven by broad thematic interests in mobility, religious networks, and politics, and their intersections across time. My book project delves into the pilgrimage and diaspora networks of Chinese Muslims (or the “Hui” people) over the twentieth century, questioning the significance of Mecca as a symbolic and real place in mediating two-way trans-regional imaginaries, travels, exiles, and settlements. The book draws on multi-sited archival and fieldwork conducted in different parts of Saudi Arabia, mainland China (primarily Gansu, Qinghai, and Shanghai), and Taiwan. My other ongoing research projects include labor migrations between South Korea and Saudi Arabia during the late Cold War, and the expansion and politicization of the Korean Muslim community during this period.

Publications

• “Homeland, magnet, and refuge: Mecca in the travels and imaginaries of Chinese Muslims.” Modern Asian Studies (Forthcoming). doi:10.1017/S0026749X23000148
• “Little Mecca in Canton: representations and resurgences of the graveyard of Sa’d ibn Abī Waqqās.” History and Anthropology (Forthcoming). doi: 10.1080/02757206.2022.2038593
• “Mecca between China and India: Wartime Chinese Islamic Diplomatic Missions across the Indian Ocean” in Beyond Pan-Asianism: Connecting China and India, 1840s- 1960s, edited by Tansen Sen and Brian Tsui. Oxford University Press. 2020.
• “Hyundai, Made in Jubail: Cold Wars, Business Networks and States behind Saudi Mega-City” Middle East Institute Insights, National University of Singapore (October 2018)
• "A Song of the Red Sea: Community and Networks of Chinese Muslims in the Hijaz" Dirasat, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (July 2016)