Dr. Jinhee Lee
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Dr. Jinhee Lee

History Professor & Asian Studies Chair Office: 3755 - Coleman Hall
Phone: 217-581-3310
Email: jlee@eiu.edu

INTRODUCTION

Growing up with three sisters, Prof. Lee realized that memories and interpretations of the seemingly shared past could vary dramatically even within a family. As a natural extension of her interest in such dynamic process of producing historical knowledge and memories, Dr. Lee's research focuses on the competing narratives of collective violence in twentieth-century East Asia with particular attention to the Japanese empire and colonial Korea. Committed to generating cross-disciplinary methodological innovation in the studies of modern empires, Prof. Lee incorporates a variety of historical texts such as rumors, children's drawings, trial records, oral testimonies, and other non-textual historical records in her research on race, gender, religions, and state-led genocide under the influence of modern imperialism and (internal) colonialism. Going beyond the boundaries of conventional historical archives, she frequently conducts transnational research and shares her findings through multilingual publications, documentary films, lectures, and exhibits on both sides of the Pacific. Prof. Lee frequently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Korea, Japan, China, Women in East Asia, Global Empires, World Wars, and World Religions. Her teaching and mentoring excellence has been recognized with Students' Distinguished Professor Award (Student Government), Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award (Graduate College), Most Influential Faculty for the Presidential Scholars (Honors College), Excellent Undergraduate Teaching Award, and numerous teaching-related grants and speech engagement.

Dr. Lee has served as Chair of the American Historical Association's Mentorship Award Committee as well as founding and elected chair for the interdisciplinary Asian Studies program. She served as the founding faculty advisor for a number of registered student organizations such as Asian American Association, Japanese Culture Club, and Asian Cinema Organization as well. Dr. Lee has been an invited speaker, fellow, and research associate at institutions such as Harvard University, Seoul National University, the University of Tokyo, the Academy of Korean Studies, National Museum of Japanese History, and the University of Oxford. Her critical commentaries on the rise of history denialism, fraudulent historical scholarship, and the issues of academic integrity in the "post-truth" era with rising conspiracy theories  and global populism have appeared in national and international media such as the Wall Street Journal, BBC, Shukan Kinyobi, and Le Figaro. Dr. Lee's historical documentary film "1923 Kanto Massacre" was featured in special events at the legislature of the Republic of Korea as well as that of Japan. Prof. Lee got her interdisciplinary training in history, anthropology, literature and linguistics at the University of Illinois, University of Tokyo, Drexel University, and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

Graduate Mentoring

 

Diversity as Power 

 

Education & Training

Ph.D.  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Japanese Ministry of Education Fellow at the University of Tokyo

College Women’s Association of Japan Scholar, Yokohama

M.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

B.A. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea

Alison Rose Fellow at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

International Culture College, Utsunomiya, Japan

Language Proficiency

Korean (native; publications in Korean)

Japanese (near native; publications in Japanese; training in classical Japanese)

Chinese (rudimentary; training in classical Chinese)

Spanish (rudimentary)

 

Conference Presentations

INVITED TALKS (select)

Documentary Film "1923 Kanto Massacre" (Creative Producer Talk), The Japanese Diet (Members' Office Building, the Hall of the House of Councilors)

Documentary Film "1923 Kanto Massacre" (Creative Producer Talk), The Korean National Assembly (Members' Office Building)

The Centenery Kanto Earthquake Symposium, Kawasaki, Japan

The Centenery Kanto Genocide International Symposium, Tokyo

The Centenery International Symposium of the Massacre of Koreans and Chinese, Seoul

The 80th Nanjing Massacre Commemoration Symposium, University of Illinois

Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korea) and the Fight for Justice (Japan)

Korean Studies Working Group, Harvard University

Center for Korean Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Korean Studies Colloquium, University of California, Los Angeles

Korean Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania

Center for Asian Studies & Asian Languages and Cultures Colloquium, Northwestern University

Korean Studies Institute, University of Southern California

Korean Studies Lecture Series, Calvin University

Critical Studies on Asia Workshop, Dartmouth College

The Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul, Korea

National Institute of Korean History, Seoul, Korea

The Independence Hall of Korea

Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University, Korea

Center for Northeast Asian Humanities and Social Sciences, Wonkwang University

International Law Association & Northeast Asian History Foundation Joint Conference, Seoul, Korea

Korea Foundation Global Korean Studies Forum, Seoul, Korea 

Northeast Asian History Foundation, Seoul, Korea

Institute for Humanities for Unification, Kunkuk University, Seoul, Korea 

University of Tokyo, Japan

Bunka Senta-  Arirang, Kawaguchi-shi, Japan

Chōsenshi kenkyÅ«kai [Korean History Association of Japan], Tokyo, Japan

Modern Japanese History Workshop, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), University of Illinois

The College Teaching Effectiveness Network, University of Illinois

Graduate Professional Development Seminar, University of Illinois

Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies K-12 Educators Workshop, University of Illinois

Asian Educational Media Service Film Festivals

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS (select)

American Historical Association Annual Conference

Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference

American Anthropological Association Annual Conference 

Association for Asian Studies Digital Dialogue and Film Expo

Association of American Colleges and Universities Symposium

Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs

Southwest Conference on Asian Studies 

Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Annual Conference

The University of Oxford Global Conference, UK

Eastern Illinois University's Diversity Workshop, Women's History Month Symposium, Asian Studies Colloquium, History Colloquium, New Faculty Orientation, Asian Heritage Month Symposium, Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity Annual Symposium, etc. 

Community

As a trained art museum docent Dr. Lee enjoys connecting her historical profession with art education and art therapy for local children and the elderly population in her local community.  

 

Publications

Visit Dr. Lee's publications,  lectures, film and interviews repository here.

 

 

Funding & Grants

NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL GRANTS (select)

2020  Archive Travel Grant, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University

2018  U.S. Department of Education Title VI Curriculum Co-Development Grant, University of Illinois

2018  Kyujanggak Korean Studies Symposium Travel Awards, Seoul National University

2015  Senior Fellowship, Academy of Korean Studies, Korea

2014  Workshop Grant, Academy of Korean Studies, Korea

2010  Research Grant, National Museum of Japanese History/ National Institute for the Humanities, Japan

2008  Northeast Asia Council Research Grant, Association for Asian Studies

2003  Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Fellowship

2002  Japanese Ministry of Education Research Fellowship

2001  International Women’s Scholarship, College Women’s Association of Japan

2000  Itoh Foundation USA Fellowship

2000  Hiroko Araki Fowler Scholarship

UNIVERSITY GRANTS (select)

Summer Research Award, Council on Faculty Research

Research Course Release Awards and Travel Grants, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Travel Grants, Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity

Conference Grant, Collaboration Grant, Educational Partnership Grant, Faculty Development

Redden Grants for Undergraduate Instruction, University Foundation 

Frequently Taught Courses

  • The Two Koreas; Modern Japan; Modern China (upper-level undergraduate history courses)
  • Women in East Asia; Japanese Empire (interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses)
  • Modern East Asia in the Pacific Century; East Asia through Film (interdisciplinary courses)
  • World War II; Religion and Society; War Stories (interdisciplinary seminars)
  • Empires in Global History; Twentieth-Century World History (general education courses)
  • Proseminar in Modern World History (graduate seminar) 
  • Narratives of Collective Violence in East Asia (graduate seminar)
  • Japanese Language and Cultural History (independent study)
  • Korean Language and Cultural History (independent study)
  • Study Abroad Courses and Field Trips  

Research & Creative Interests

Modern East Asia; Imperial Japan; North and South Korea;

Narratives of Collective Violence in East Asia; Comparative Colonialism;

Race and Gender in the Japanese Empire; Empire Studies; 

Social Impact of War and Natural Disaster; 

Transnational/Transregional/Trans-Pacific Exchanges; 

Christianity and Colonialism in East Asia;

Legacies of Imperialism and Postcoloniality in East Asia;

WWII and History Denialism from a Global Perspective