Hae-Seo Kim
Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society
I am interested in how emergent technologies generate new political movements and social organizations. Specifically, I have studied how the proliferation of outer space infrastructures in South Korea shape new forms of political mobilization. I have conducted ethnographic research with space activists in South Korea organizing against the militarization of outer space and instead advocating for peaceful interaction with outer space and environmental sustainability. I also research local cosmologies of outer space in South Korea, especially Korean shamanic and animistic ways of engaging outer space and have conducted fieldwork with shamans and astrology readers.
I situate my work in the interdisciplinary worlds of science and technology studies (STS), political anthropology, environmental anthropology, space studies, Korean studies, and the anthropology of religion. I plan to continue to research the relationship between science, politics, and environment in South Korea and beyond. Currently, I am working on a book manuscript based on my doctoral dissertation titled 鈥淐osmological Care: Politics of Caring for Outer Space in South Korea.”
Education
- BA. Vassar College. Political Science; Correlate in Asian Studies. 2014
- MA. University of London, Goldsmiths. Art and Politics. 2016.
- MA. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. History. 2019.
- PhD. University of California, Irvine. Sociocultural Anthropology. 2026
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2026. 鈥淒evelopmental New Space in South Korea: Militarized Developmentalism and the Privatization of Outer Space.鈥� Science, Technology & Human Values.
Kim, Hae-Seo. Forthcoming. 鈥淧lacing Stars in Urban Jeju: Shamanism and Cosmology of Space.鈥� In Off-Earth Atlas, edited by Istvan Praet, Perig Pitrou, Victor Buchli, David Jeevendrampillai, Delphine Mercier, and Gerald Sim. Intellect.
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2025. 鈥淒ivining South Korea鈥檚 Space Age through Korean Shamanism and Astrology.鈥� In Exploring Ethnography of Outer Space: Methods and Perspectives, edited by Jenia Gorbanenko, David (Jeeva) Jeevendrampillai, Adryon Kozel. Routledge.
Public Scholarship (Selected)
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2025. 鈥溾�� Supplementals, Fieldsights, Society for Cultural Anthropology.
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2024. 鈥溾�� Supplementals, Fieldsights, Society for Cultural Anthropology.
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2024. 鈥�,鈥� Pressian News, (Korean).
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2024. 鈥�,鈥� Anthropology News.
Podcast
Kim, Hae-Seo. 2024. 鈥�.鈥� Anthropod, Society for Cultural Anthropology, March 26.