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This is my first year at Grinnell and I'm very excited to be here. Please feel free to share any insights or experiences that will help me better understand you and the Grinnell community.

I believe passionately that ideas can transform individuals, groups, and societies and that the sociological imagination in particular can contribute to personal and social change.

At the same time, I think that the mind becomes lonely and distorted when it is separated from the body, heart, and soul, and when it lacks fellow travelers. Thus, over the course of our time together, I hope that we can not only engage each other's thoughts, but enlarge each other's spirits.

E d u c a t i o n

• Bachelors of Arts, Social Studies, Radcliffe College, Harvard University, 1988
• Master of Arts, Sociology, New York University, New York University, 1996
• Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology, New York University, 2001

Dissertation: "Manicuring Identities: Race, Gender, and Class in New York City Korean-Owned Nail Salons."

This ethnographic study explores the social construction of race, gender and class in service interactions in ethnic small businesses by examining relations between Korean female owners and workers and their racially diverse customers in New York City nail salons. It describes and analyzes the practices of how language, body, and emotions are managed and how these actions shape identities and inter-group relations in the interpersonal settings of the post-industrial economy.

R e s e a r c h    I n t e r e s t s

• Social Construction of Race, Gender and Class
• Sociology of the Body
• Emotional Labor and Service Interactions
• Immigrant Women’s Work
• Asian American Communities
• Relations between Korean Americans and African Americans
• Ethnography

T e a c h i n g    E x p e r i e n c e

S c h o l a r l y    A c t i v i t i e s

• Cheryl Allyn Miller Award for Research on Women and Work, awarded annually by the Sociologists for Women in Society (2000)
• Rose Laub Coser Dissertation Award (Honorable Mention), Eastern Sociological Society (1998)
• Peter Ohm Scholarship, (Alternate), Korea Society (1998)
• International Migration Program Minority Summer Dissertation Fellowship, Social Science Research Council (1997)
• New York University Dean’s Summer Fellowship for Preliminary Ph.D. Research (1996)

• Elected as the Graduate Student Representative of the Asia and Asian America section of the American Sociological Association (1998).

• Founded and coordinated the Asian Pacific American Student Support Program at New York University’s Student Advising Center and received a President’s Service Award for Programming (1996-7)
• Served on the Board of Directors of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, New York City, advocating for and outreaching to Asian women workers and victims of bias-related crimes (1992-4)
• Legislative Coordinator, North American Coalition For Human Rights In Korea, Washington D.C. (1990-2)

R e c e n t    P u b l i c a t i o n s    a n d    P a p e r s

• 2002. “I Do It All the Same”: Simultaneous Performance of Care-giving and Paid Work in Immigrant Entrepreneurial Establishments.” Paper presented at Third Annual Carework Conference, Chicago, IL.
• “Body Labor: Managing Emotions in Nail Salon Work.” Currently being revised and resubmitted to Gender & Society.
• 2001. “Gender and Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Korean-owned Nail Salons.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Anaheim, CA.
• 2000. “Researching One’s Own: Negotiating Co-Ethnicity in the Field,” in Martin Manalansan, Ed. Cultural Compass: Ethnographic Explorations of Asian America, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• 2000. “Manicuring Interactions: Race, Gender and Class in New York City Korean-Owned Nail Salons.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Washington D.C.
• 1999. “Racializing Beauty: The Everyday Aesthetics of Nail Art in Korean-Owned Nail Salons.” Paper presented at the "Exploring America’s Cultures: The Korean Americans: Arts, Culture, and Sensibility" seminar, Columbia University, New York, NY.
• 1997. "Manicuring Race, Gender, and Class: Service Interactions in New York City Korean Nail Salons," Race, Gender, and Class. 4:3:143-164.

E n o u g h    o f    A c a d e m i c s    A l r e a d y !

As with everything else, I feel we need to find a balance in our lives. For me, what balances my academic career is my wonderful family! My husband C.N. and our 3-year-old daughter Sangha certainly keep me on my toes and remind me that there is more to life than journal articles and publications. To see larger shots of the pictures below, just click on its thumbnail.