Chanhee Lee

Chanhee Lee is a PhD student in Korean Studies whose research focuses on the records of the first generation of Korean travellers to modern society. She is particularly interested in their emotions and emotional expressions, and how they intertwined with the society of the time. 

Critical of the existing historiography of Korea's modernisation for its overemphasis on macro-discussions and oversimplification of Korean responses to Western acceptance, she believes that her research may restore the sheer moment of Korean encounter with modern society and explore the diverse and vivid reactions to it. Her research is supervised by Dr Anders Karlsson and Dr Owen Miller. 

Her journey into history began at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. While studying at SKKU, she was deeply drawn to the subject of Hyanghwain, the Chinese and Japanese immigrants to Chosŏn Korea. She studied how the Chosŏn government manipulated the immigrants and how they endured life as a minority in Chosŏn society. She continued to develop her thesis at SOAS, where she completed her MA. She also has a keen interest in public outreach and promoting historical awareness among the people. To this end, she has given interviews to newspapers and spoken on a renowned podcast channel, as well as presented her work at a number of academic conferences. 

Collaborating with the Asian Peace and History Institute, she is actively involved in the decolonisation of history textbooks. She has contributed to her department's modules as a Graduate Teaching Assistant since 2022 and is an accredited Korean language instructor holding a Certificate of Korean Language Teacher awarded by the Korean government.

Korean history, Cultural history, Modernisation, History of emotions, Transnational History, Decolonisation of history, Interdisciplinary Collaboration.