Students feel like they can’t enroll in majors like Af-Am Studies and WGSS because they’re getting messages from all sides that they’re not remunerative. And yet they desperately want the knowledge, so classes are full. That seems to be the situation everywhere.
If you’re working on LGBTQ+ movements or rights and thinking about ASA submissions tonight, I’m organizing two connected panels on queer/trans movements and LGBTQ+ rights in times of crisis and backlash. Submissions are due tonight at 9PM (EST). Thanks for considering!
Yesterday, those who teach Intro to Sociology at Florida colleges (as opposed to universities) received a ready-made curriculum from the state and were ordered to teach it.
Yes, you read that correctly. The *state* is enforcing a curriculum on college profs, complete w/ the following restrictions:
While independent bookstores are giving out free whistles, hosting protest sign making events, and donating proceeds to mutual aid, Amazon is *checks notes* providing technology that assists ICE in their terrorizing of communities.
Independent bookstores deserve your support. Amazon does not.
I also wanted to add some thoughts about “what’s the point of making art/comic/zines in this horrible world”. And let me hold your hands and tell you this. Because they bring joy to people that appreciates the craft. They bring light and a moment to smile in this god awful world. It matters.
“Abolish ICE” isn’t radical, it doesn’t go far enough.
Latest in @theguardian.com written with my friend @victorerikray.bsky.social.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
If you're a writer, wondering why you should bother writing with the world on fire. It feels like it's not important, I need you to understand that it is.
Even if it is just because it keeps you moving forward? Even if it only brings YOU joy, that gives you energy to fight & survive.
This event features Mounia Bennani-Chraïbi (U Lausanne), Alex Hanna (DAIR) @alexhanna.bsky.social, Yatun Sastramidjaja (U Amsterdam) @yatunsastra.bsky.social, Jay Ulfelder (Independent Researcher), and will be moderated by Didem Türkoğlu (Kadir Has) @didem-turkoglu.bsky.social
How are young people around the world organizing amid a global polycrisis—democratic backsliding, rising fascism, war/genocide & climate catastrophe?
Join the ASA CBSM @asa-cbsm.bsky.social virtual conversation on Global Youth Mobilization!
📅 Dec 8, 2025, 11AM (Chicago Time)
RSVP: bit.ly/3K1ZUIi
Join us for a workshop on publishing books in Korean studies (broadly defined). Speakers will tackle questions like: How long from idea to contract? How to pitch to editors? What goes in the book vs. articles? How to stay authentic?
🗓 Nov 12 (Wed), 3:30-5PM EST
🔗 Sign up: bit.ly/dkscbookwork...
Join us for a virtual conversation with ASA Human Rights Section Book Award winners, Chana Teeger and Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, on race, memory, and injustice. I’ll be moderating this discussion.
📅 November 19 (Wed) 10–11 AM CST / 4–5 PM GMT
RSVP: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
A new article out: “Flexible Masculinities: Negotiating Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Global Asia.” I introduce the concept of “flexible masculinities” to understand how people navigate shifting gender norms across different cultural and geographic contexts.
doi.org/10.1177/0011...
Please spread the word! 📢
My PhD student Kajal Patel is recruiting interviewees for her dissertation research on the children of Gujarati immigrant families.
If you grew up helping in your family’s business, please share your stories with Kajal: 📧 klucpatel@gmail.com
I’ll be visiting Budapest as a Junior Fellow at the IAS-CEU @iasceu.bsky.social during Fall 2025. I look forward to engaging with other fellows, visiting scholars, and artists in residence. Friends and colleagues passing through Eastern Europe are most welcome to connect.
We’ll ask: How has feminist/queer scholarship in Korean Studies changed (or not) since then? How do institutional barriers shape feminist/queer scholarship, activism and collaboration across Korea and the US? How do global circulations of Korean culture shape these debates? Where do we go from here?
Join us for a roundtable reflecting on the decade since Feminism Reboot (2015), a turning point in feminist and queer politics and scholarship in South Korea. Together, we’ll reflect on what has shifted, what has stalled, and what futures we might imagine.
Register here: bit.ly/46jg871
I’ll be giving talks both in Taipei and Seoul later this month. If anybody’s around, please feel free to come by and connect.
For Korean readers, I’m also sharing a full Korean translation of the article.
그동안의 작업들 가운데 한국 퀴어 운동의 사례를 직접 다룬 첫 논문이라, 관심 있으실 분들을 위해 한국어 번역본을 함께 공유합니다.
My new open-access article in the British Journal of Sociology explores how Korean queer activists envision and enact social change by rethinking “the global”—shifting from UN human rights frameworks to regional solidarities across Asia.
Eighty years ago today in 1945, Korea was freed after 35 years under Japanese colonial rule—a day we remember as “the day the light returned (광복절).” On this anniversary, many Koreans hold in hearts the hope of liberation for other occupied lands and colonized peoples.
Amazing! Big congratulations! Can’t wait to read and learn more!
The Migrant Workers Solidarity for Equality condemned the company and government, demanding urgent heatwave policies to protect vulnerable migrant workers. They stated, “In climate disasters, vulnerable groups suffer most. Migrant workers did not come to Korea to die. Migrant workers’ lives matter.”
Labor unions condemned the negligence, discrimination, and lack of protection for migrant workers during the heatwave. They called for stronger enforcement of safety laws and an end to unfair treatment on worksites where migrant workers face harsh conditions.
At his funeral, only Vietnamese friends came. Neither the company nor officials paid respects. A few Buddhist monks visited and prayed for Long’s peaceful rebirth. His Vietnamese friends expressed deep fear that the same could happen to them.
Two days ago, a 23-year-old Vietnamese construction worker, Ngo Duy Long, died from heatstroke at a worksite in South Korea. It was his first day on the job. While Korean workers left at 1PM in 99°F heat, Long and other migrant workers worked until 4PM. He was found collapsed, body temp 104.4°F.
How ironic that the deeply homophobic government of my home country, South Korea, is sponsoring an international screening of a queer film—Love in the Big City (2024), based on Sang Young Park’s bestselling novel—as a representation of K-culture abroad. 🤷♂️
Another activist stated: “The time of Palestinian queer people is linked with Korean LGBTQ community, rooftop protest workers, disabled comrades, migrants, refugees, sex workers, those exposed to danger and exploitation, and those opposing martial law and rebellion, yearning for equality and peace.”
The executive director of Rainbow Action spoke: “The rainbow flag doesn’t belong to LGBTQ people alone. It’s a symbol of resistance against oppression and a beacon of hope for solidarity and liberation. Now we raise this flag in solidarity with the suffering and struggle for Palestinian liberation.”
Yesterday, queer activists from the national LGBTQ coalition Rainbow Action and Palestine solidarity activists issued a joint statement urging an end to the silence on Palestine. Over 3,000 Korean LGBTQ community members and allies have signed the solidarity petition: campaigns.do/campaigns/1577
This is one of the most striking reads of the day. Thanks for sharing.
