Dr Helen Kim

Profile

I joined the School of Media and Communication as a Lecturer of Media and Communication in September 2018. I hold a Ph.D. in Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and was formerly a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of East London.

My research focuses on diaspora, urban migration and ‘race’ in the UK, US and Germany. My recent book Making Diaspora in a Global City: South Asian Youth Cultures in London (Routledge US) is an ethnographic study of urban music-making and the cultural politics of the ‘desi’ South Asian diaspora in London. I have published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Identities, European Journal of Cultural Studies and the Journal of Cultural Geography.

My current research project is on the Korean ‘guestworker’ diaspora who have settled in Germany, US, Canada and Korea. It will explore diasporic and postcolonial memory, race-making, the mediated experience of guestworker narratives in Korea and the negotiation of the meaning of representations of guestworkers. The project will use visual methods as well as oral histories.

Responsibilities

• DIrector of Postgraduate Research Studies

Research interests

• Diasporic spaces and identities
• Race, ethnicity and media
• Popular culture, cities an urban multiculture
• Ethnographic methods

Qualifications

• Ph.D. Sociology, 2011
• MSc. Research in Sociology, 2006
• Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, 2001

Student education

I am teaching on both undergraduate and MA modules on global ‘race’ and migration, as well as on feminism, globalisation and the media.

Current postgraduate researchers

• Tongzhou Ran
• Chi Zhang