1. Mediated Migration, Mediated Experiences

My first strand of research looks at how mediated communication 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, 

2. Transposing Culture: Rethinking Music as a Universal Language 

Music is often celebrated for its ability to transcend all boundaries. Yet, sociologists and ethnomusicologists have shown that individual musical genres require culture-specific forms of socialization for performance and appreciation. Recognizing this tension, I critically examines the popular imagination of music as a “universal language,” focusing on the cultural work needed for this imagined universality to work in practice. I use ethnographic data from two music nonprofit organizations: one in New England offering free music programming for low-income, racial minority students, and one in Seoul, South Korea, managing a multicultural choir with singers from four different continents. Observing the formation and transcendence of racial, national, and cultural boundaries at these sites, I identify different strategies that are used to convert music, a culturally specific artefact, into a universal medium, demonstrating that the medium of music does not automatically foster solidarity, but requires a significant backstage cultural labor to communicate across boundaries.