Jinwon Kim

Jinwon Kim, assistant professor of sociology, earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the Graduate Center, City University of New York; her M.A. in sociology from Seoul National University; and her B.A. in urban sociology from the University of Seoul, both in South Korea. Before joining Smith, she was an assistant professor of sociology at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York.

Her research and teaching explore themes of urban sociology, race and ethnicity, Asian and Asian American studies, transnational and global sociology, migration, and consumption. She investigates how the global political economy and popular/consumer culture interact with national/ethnic identities, urban changes, and the creative economy in an era of global competition. She just finished her first monograph on Koreatown in Manhattan as a transclave—a transnational space for Seoul-style consumption characterized by intensive flows of people, money, and consumer culture, including pop culture and food, between the U.S. and a sending country. It is expected to be published by NYU Press in 2025. She is currently working on two other book projects. The first project, entitled We’re Being Priced Out: The Other Koreatown, One Disappearing in Flushing, New York City, focuses on interethnic and intraethnic relations among Chinese, Koreans, and Korean Chinese (Joseonjok, an ethnic minority group in China whose ethnicity is Korean) in the Asian community in Queens, New York City, driven by both transnational factors, such as geopolitics and political and cultural tensions in East Asia, and local contexts, such as gentrification and urban redevelopment plans in New York City. The second project, entitled New Trend, Old Conflicts: New Black-Korean Relations in an Era of Global Media, examines anti-Blackness and interracial relations between Black people and Koreans in the Korean media and entertainment industry. In both projects, she employs in-depth interviews, participant observation, and media analysis.

Her work has appeared in City & Community, The International Journal of Cultural Policy, CUNY Forum, A Companion to Korean American Studies, COVID-19 and Global Cities: Comparative Perspectives (in Korean), and World Politics and Economy (in Korean). She also co-edited Koreatowns: Exploring the Economics, Politics, and Identities of Korean Spatial Formations with two other sociologists, and contributed chapters to the volume. This edited work was published by Lexington Books in 2020.