1. Recognition of Minority Participation 

My dissertation examines structural barriers to minority participation in sectors that have been historically dominated by a specific group of people, with primary emphasis on cultural differences. I study classical music as a sector that had been dominated by white, upper-class people. Drawing from ethnography of nonprofit organizations that teach classical music to students from minority, immigrant, and/or working-class families, I investigate what it means for minority individuals to be recognized as legitimate participants in the field of classical music. In doing so, my dissertation develops a theory of recognition as a multi-dimensional process by which privilege is reproduced systematically. Building on the experience of minority students, I differentiate between merit recognition – recognition of one’s talent, skills, and competence, conferred by the dominant group in the sector – and empathic recognition – recognition of one’s existence in the sector, conferred by one’s in-group both in and out of the sector. For some individuals, the dominant group that they are trying to impress mostly overlaps with their in-groups, leading to a concentrated recognition pattern. For others, the two groups do not overlap, leading to a dispersed recognition pattern. The different degrees of distribution necessitate divergent strategies such as distancing from one's in-group for greater merit recognition, compromizing one's social mobility to prioritize empathic recognition, or learning to perform for multiple audiences in an attempt to acquire both forms of recognition. 

2. Mediated Migration, Mediated Experiences

My second line of research examines intercultural interactions on a transnational level. I investigate how communication through social media shapes migratory experiences at borders. One recent publication has examined how YouTube vlogging transformed the experience of immobility imposed by South Korean COVID-19 Quarantine Policies. Currently, I am working on an international collaborative project that looks how North Koreans circumvent border control policies with smuggled communication technologies, examining flows of money, information, and emotions that travel through this underground communication network,