I am a first-year PhD student in Anthropology at Rice University, having joined the department in the fall of 2024. My research interests focus on local environmental knowledge among the mountain inhabitants of South Korea in the context of state-initiated conservation projects, particularly the Asiatic black bear restoration project. By focusing on the perspectives of local inhabitants, I aim to understand how these conservation projects influence their environmental knowledge and everyday interactions with reintroduced animals. This human-bear interaction lies at the intersection of scientific technology and state politics, prompting questions about how state-led conservation and restoration projects shape exemplary models of nature for the future.

Before joining Rice, I earned an M.A. in Anthropology from Seoul National University and a B.A. in Philosophy and Sociology from Sogang University (South Korea). My master’s thesis explored how native mountain villagers in South Korea asserted their ‘own way’ of protecting the environment, challenging the stigmatization of their knowledge and practices as ‘backward.’ To this end, I delved into how they understand and protect their environment based on their everyday interactions with non-human animals, plants, and spirits.

During my academic journey, I have co-translated two scholarly works: Eduardo Viveiros de Castro’s The Inconstancy of the Indian Soul (2011) and Tim Ingold’s The Life of Lines (2015).