Seo-Young Chu Explained

Seo-Young Jennie Chu
Birth Date:1978 2, mf=yes
Birth Place:Virginia
Occupation:Academic, writer, artist, poet, #MeToo activist, Associate Professor
Alma Mater:2007 – PhD in English, Harvard University
Notable Works:A Refuge for Jae-In Doe, Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?
Citizenship:U.S.
Movement:autotheory, #MeToo, feminism, experimental writing, speculative memoir
Subject:aesthetics, Asian American literature, autotheory, cognitively estranging referents, death, digital writing, disability, dreams, Englishes, the Korean DMZ, Emily Dickinson, globalization, the gothic, han, Korea, mental illness, poetry, Postmemory Han, rape culture, robots, science fiction, sexual violence, suicide, theory, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, trauma, the uncanny valley

Seo-Young Chu (Korean: 주서영; born February 14, 1978) is a queer Korean American scholar, feminist, poet, #MeToo activist, and associate professor of English at Queens College, CUNY.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] She is the author of A Refuge for Jae-in Doe[6] and Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation.[7] [8]

Chu is best known for her scholarship on science fiction,[9] her writing on the Koreas,[10] [11] her work on postmemory han,[12] her work on the uncanny valley, her creative nonfiction and lyric poems exploring mental illness and sexual violence,[8] [13] [14] and her work as an activist against rape culture on college campuses.[15] [16] [17] She was one of the earliest #MeTooAcademia advocates, first speaking out in 2017, and remains active in the movement.[15] [18] [19] [20] She frequently campaigns for universities and colleges to create more robust sexual harassment policies, and enforce them.[21] [15] She also regularly speaks out on behalf of sexual assault victims in academia, encouraging universities to take accusations seriously, respond with compassion, and provide help to victims.[22] [23] She has also spoken out about sexual violence in Asian Americans.[24] [25] [26]

Life

According to Chu's autobiographical essay "Free Indirect Suicide," published in The Rumpus in March 2019, Chu was born in 1978 in Northern Virginia to Korean parents. According to a 2023 article in The Knight News, Chu's mother was born during the Korean War and Chu's father was orphaned by the Korean War.[27] Chu is open about her struggles with generational trauma, bipolar disorder, rape trauma, and complex post-traumatic stress, writing publicly about her multiple psychiatric hospitalizations and life as a disabled person.[28] [29] The Amazon author biography for Chu describes her as a "queer agnostic spinster".[30] [31]

In 2000, several months after surviving her first suicide attempt as a graduating senior at Yale, and shortly after starting a PhD program in the Department of English at Stanford University, Chu was sexually harassed and raped by the William Robertson Coe Professor in American Literature at Stanford University Jay Fliegelman, for whom she was working as a teaching assistant and research assistant.[32] [33] [34] Due to pressure from her parents to keep quiet, Chu never pressed charges and never hired a lawyer.[35] Nonetheless, the law required Stanford University to conduct an independent investigation that resulted in significant sanctions against Fliegelman, including suspension for two years without pay. During his suspension from 2000 to 2002, Fliegelman was still granted access to students and university resources.[36] After his suspension, Stanford covered up both the abuse and the punishment by naming mentorship awards and a library[37] after Fliegelman.[38] [39] [40]

Subsequent to being abused at Stanford, Chu changed her name from Jennie to Seo-Young,[41] [42] changed her field from Early American Literature to science fiction, and reapplied to PhD programs, transferring in 2001 to Harvard University, where she worked with Elaine Scarry and earned a PhD in English and American Literature and Language in 2007.[43] [44] In 2008, Chu published an influential essay on postmemory han and Korean American literature in MELUS.[12] In 2009, Chu started a tenure-track position in the Department of English at Queens College, CUNY. In 2011, Chu published a well-received monograph titled Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation (Harvard University Press). In 2016, Chu earned tenure at Queens College, CUNY.[45] [46]

In 2017 Chu published "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe,"[47] in Entropy Magazine, in which Chu wrote about being abused at Stanford and living with posttraumatic stress.[48] The publication became part of the dialogue about #MeToo and #MeTooAcademia in particular.[49] "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe" was selected for inclusion in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018, Best American Experimental Writing 2020, and Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury Writer's Guides and Anthologies).[50] In 2021, Chu successfully campaigned for Stanford to remove Fliegelman's name from the Fliegelman Library of Association Copies, though what happened to the collection of expensive rare books, many of which were financed by Stanford University, and some of which Fliegelman used to molest Chu and others,[51] [15] [52] remains less than clear.[38] [53] [54] [39] [55]

Education

In 1999 Chu earned a B.A. degree from Yale. In 2001, Chu earned a M.A. degree from Stanford. In 2007, Chu earned a Ph.D. degree from Harvard.[43]

Work

Chu has written and spoken about science fiction,[7] the DMZ in Korea,[56] postmemory han, poetry,[55] North Korea, her experiences as a survivor of sexual violence in the English Department at Stanford University,[48] [55] [15] and her struggles with bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation.[57] [48] [58] [32] [59] [60] [61] [62] [15] [29] Her publications include "Survivor-Shaped Specters and Gaps," "Excerpts from an Anti-Standardized '수능': A Design-Fictional Approach to Korea,"[63] "I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor,"[64] "Dear Stanford: You Must Reckon With Your History of Sexual Violence,"[15] [65] "Welcome to the Vegas Pyongyang,"[66] Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation, "Hwabyung Fragments,"[67] "Are Postmodernism and MeToo Incompatible?,"[68] "Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature,"[12] "The DMZ Responds," "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major," "M'어머니,"[69] "Dream of the Ambassador, 12/21/2016,"[70] "The Lyric We," "Two Koreas, in the Key of Emily Dickinson," "Chogakpo Fantasia,"[71] "Dickinson and Mathematics,"[72] [73] "Emoji Poetics,"[74] "Tiny Art Museum for the Floater in My Eye,"[75] "I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley,"[76] "Dystopian Surface, Utopian Dream,"[77] "Free Indirect Suicide: An Unfinished Fugue In H Minor," "Old Typewriter in a Field,"[78] "Translator of Soliloquies,"[79] "Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea,"[80] [81] [82] [83] "Hypnotic Ratiocination,"[84] "The Dream Life of Waste: Archaeologies of the Soul in the Key of Capitalism,"[85] "jogakpo window (7 feet x 4 feet),"[86] and "Imagining an Asian American Superhero of North Korean Origin."[87] [8] Chu is also a contributing writer to the experimental film I See You and You See Me (2021), which tells "Stories of Queens residents during the time of the coronavirus."[88] [89]

Chu's creative nonfiction has been listed among "Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction" in The Best American Essays 2020 and anthologized in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018,[90] Best American Experimental Writing 2020,[91] and Advanced Creative Nonfiction.[92] Her work has been cited by Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker[93] ; by Amanda Gorman in Call Us What We Carry; by Mia You in Poetry;[94] and by Cathy Park Hong in Minor Feelings. In 2017, 2018, and more recently, "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe" and Chu's advocacy for survivors have sparked dialogue about MeToo in academia, particularly at Stanford. Media attention has included articles in New York Magazine,[95] KQED, The New Republic, The Washington Post, Literary Hub,[96] The Chronicle of Higher Education,[97] [98] [99] [100] [101] The Stanford Daily,[102] [103] [104] NBC News, Amerasia Journal, and Inside Higher Ed.[87] [43]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Seo-Young Chu. Queens College Department of English.
  2. Web site: Former Grad Students: Our Professors Raped Us. December 7, 2017. KQED.
  3. "A Professor Is Kind of Like a Priest". Irene. Hsu. Rachel. Stone. November 30, 2017. The New Republic.
  4. News: Nick . Anderson . Academia's #MeToo moment: Women accuse professors of sexual misconduct . The Washington Post . May 10, 2018 .
  5. Web site: An open letter to Stanford on sexual harassment in academia. Op. Ed. December 5, 2017.
  6. Web site: Lê . Aimée . 2018-09-03 . Review: A Refuge for Jae-In Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major by Seo-Young Chu . 2023-11-27 . Neon Books . en-GB.
  7. Book: Chu, Seo-Young. Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?. 2010. Harvard University Press . 978-0-674-05517-9 .
  8. Web site: Seo-Young Chu – Humanities Commons . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  9. Book: Chu, Seo-Young . Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation . 2011-01-15 . Harvard University Press . 978-0-674-05517-9 . Cambridge, MA.
  10. Chu . Seo-Young . 2018-01-01 . The DMZ Responds . Publications and Research.
  11. Web site: Chu . Seo-Young . 2021 . Imagining an Asian American Superhero of North Korean Origin: A Design Fiction . Humanities Commons . en-US.
  12. Chu . Seo-Young . 2008 . Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature . MELUS . 33 . 4 . 97–121 . 10.1093/melus/33.4.97 . 20343509 . 0163-755X.
  13. Chu . Seo-Young . 2017-11-01 . A Refuge for Jae-in Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major . Publications and Research.
  14. Chu . Seo-Young . 2019-01-01 . "Free Indirect Suicide: An Unfinished Fugue in H Minor" . Publications and Research.
  15. Web site: 2022-07-12 . From the Community Dear Stanford: You must reckon with your history of sexual violence . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  16. Magdalena L. . Barrera . Shelley . Lee . Celine Parreñas Shimizu . 2018-03-16 . Moving Forward by Looking Back: Feminist Scholars in Solidarity with Seo-Young Chu . 2023-11-27 . Ms. Magazine . en-US.
  17. Web site: Tong . Julia . 2022-02-11 . Three graduate students sue Harvard, alleging sexual abuse from professor . 2023-11-27 . AsAmNews . en-US.
  18. Web site: 2023-11-27 . X (formerly Twitter) . en.
  19. Web site: 2020-05-18 . Facing criticism for victim blaming, Stanford revises sexual harassment guidelines webpage, but criticism persists . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  20. Web site: Chu . Seo-Young . Survivor-Shaped Specters and Gaps .
  21. Web site: 2017-12-02 . Behind the Fliegelman sexual misconduct investigation . 2022-07-17 . The Stanford Daily . en-US.
  22. Web site: Wang . Kyle . 2019-06-14 . Stanford One Year After #MeToo: How Stanford's Response Failed Victims of Sexual Assault . 2022-07-17 . Stanford Politics . en-US.
  23. Web site: 2022-10-27 . Stanford students call for firing of professor Vincent Barletta . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  24. Web site: 2023-05-12 . Asian Americans are no longer pop culture sidekicks — they're defining the mainstream . 2023-11-27 . NBC News . en.
  25. Web site: Seo-Young Chu . 2023-11-27 . KoreanAmericanStory.org . en-US.
  26. Web site: Dinh . Thaomi Michelle . You Are Invited: A Conversation on Sexual Violence in Asian America .
  27. Web site: Ali . Aliyah . 2023-12-05 . Professor Spotlight: Professor Seo-Young Chu – The Knight News . 2023-12-07 . en-US.
  28. Web site: Chu . Seo-young . 2019-03-26 . Free Indirect Suicide: An Unfinished Fugue in H Minor . 2023-11-27 . The Rumpus . en-US.
  29. Web site: 2024-03-05 . Differentially Unwell: On Mimi Khúc’s "dear elia" . 2024-03-10 . Los Angeles Review of Books.
  30. Web site: Seo-Young Chu. Amazon .
  31. Book: 978-0-674-05517-9. Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation. Chu. Seo-Young. 2010. Harvard University Press .
  32. Web site: Essay about being raped by professor sparks call for public acknowledgment from Stanford and disciplinary society. www.insidehighered.com.
  33. Web site: 'My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller'. Julia. Schmalz. May 11, 2018. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  34. Web site: 2017-11-30 . Stanford: Sexual misconduct revelation exposes storied professor's secret . 2023-11-27 . East Bay Times . en-US.
  35. Seo-Young Chu Legacy Project #MeToo . KoreanAmericanStory.org . YouTube . 2023-11-27 . en.
  36. Web site: 2017-12-02 . Behind the Fliegelman sexual misconduct investigation . 2023-11-29 . en-US.
  37. Web site: John E. . Mustain . 2016-05-02 . Foreword . 2023-11-27 . Stanford University . en.
  38. Book: Fliegelman, Jay . Jay Fliegelman papers and slides relating to his book collection.
  39. Web site: Jay Fliegelman . Academic Sexual Misconduct Database . 2023-11-27.
  40. Web site: 2017-11-30 . Stanford: Sexual misconduct revelation exposes storied professor's secret . 2023-11-27 . The Mercury News . en-US.
  41. Web site: Gale - Product Login . 2023-11-27 . galeapps.gale.com.
  42. Web site: Chu . Seo-Young . 2018-03-15 . After "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe": A Social Media Chronology* / Seo-Young Chu . 2023-11-27 . ASAP/J . en-US.
  43. Web site: Seo-Young Chu (주서영) . City University of New York . 2023-11-27 . en-CAC.
  44. Web site: Gluckman . Nell . December 6, 2017 . What Happens When Sex Harassment Disrupts Victims' Academic Careers .
  45. Web site: 2022-03-13 . Seo-Young Chu – The Department of English . 2023-11-29 . en-CAC.
  46. Web site: Seo-Young Chu (주서영) CUNY Academic Commons . 2023-11-29 . en-CAC.
  47. Web site: Chu . Seo-Young . 2017 . WOVEN: A Refuge for Jae-in Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major . Humanities Commons . en-US.
  48. Web site: WOVEN: A Refuge for Jae-in Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major.
  49. Web site: 2 Women Say Stanford Professors Raped Them Years Ago. Katherine. Mangan. November 11, 2017. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  50. Book: 978-1-328-46581-8. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018. Heti. Sheila. 2 October 2018. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt .
  51. Lepore . Jill . 2019-07-01 . The Lingering of Loss . en-US . The New Yorker . 2023-11-27 . 0028-792X.
  52. Web site: Facebook . 2023-11-27 . www.facebook.com.
  53. Web site: 2021-07-09 . Stanford removes library collection, brick honoring affiliates accused of sexual misconduct . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  54. Web site: 2023-02-21 . I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor . 2023-11-27 . Asian American Writers' Workshop . en-US.
  55. Web site: 2023-02-21 . I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor . 2023-11-29 . Asian American Writers' Workshop . en-US.
  56. Web site: Seo-Young Chu . November 29, 2018 . The DMZ Responds . Telos .
  57. Web site: Seo-Young Chu . March 26, 2019 . Free Indirect Suicide: An Unfinished Fugue in H Minor . The Rumpus .
  58. Web site: M'어머니 by Seo-Young Chu (KR 17, Spring 2017). www.kartikareview.com.
  59. Web site: After "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe": A Social Media Chronology* / Seo-Young Chu. 15 March 2018.
  60. Web site: Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea. May 7, 2015. YouTube.
  61. Seo-Young Chu . 20343509 . Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature . MELUS. 33 . 4 . Winter 2008 . 97–121 . 10.1093/melus/33.4.97 .
  62. News: Stanford: Sexual misconduct revelation exposes storied professor's secret . Mercury News . November 30, 2017 . Emily . DeRuy . December 1, 2017 .
  63. Chu . Seo-Young . October 2023 . Excerpts from an Anti-Standardized "수능": A Design-Fictional Approach to Korea . Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts . en-US . 34 . 2 . 140–145.
  64. Chu . Seo-Young . 2023-02-21 . I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor . Publications and Research.
  65. Chu . Seo-Young . 2022-07-12 . "Dear Stanford: You must reckon with your history of sexual violence" by Seo-Young Chu . Publications and Research.
  66. Chu . Seo-Young . 2012 . Welcome to the Vegas Pyongyang . Science Fiction Studies . en-US . 39 . 3 . 376–377.
  67. Chu . Seo-Young . 2006 . Hwabyung Fragments . Segue . en-US . 5 . 2 . 40–43.
  68. Chu . Seo-Young . 2019-06-14 . Are Postmodernism and #MeToo Incompatible? . Publications and Research.
  69. Web site: Chu . Seo-Young . 2017-03-15 . M'어머니 . Humanities Commons . en-US.
  70. Chu . Seo-Young . 2019 . "Two Koreas, in the Key of Emily Dickinson," "Dream of the Ambassador, 12/21/2016," "The Lyric We," "A Prose Poem for 할머니" (poems). Newtown Literary, Issue 14, Spring/Summer 2019. . Newtown Literary . en-US . 14 . 78–82.
  71. Chu . Seo-Young . 2015-11-23 . Chogakpo Fantasia . And/Or . en-US . 5 . 22.
  72. Chu . Seo-Young Jennie . 2006 . Dickinson and Mathematics . The Emily Dickinson Journal . 15 . 1 . 35–55 . 10.1353/edj.2006.0017 . 122127912 . 1096-858X.
  73. Chu . Seo-Young . 2006 . Dickinson and Mathematics . The Emily Dickinson Journal . en-US . 15 . 1 . 35–55. 10.1353/edj.2006.0017 . 122127912 .
  74. Chu . Seo-Young . 2019 . Emoji Poetics . ASAP/Journal . 4 . 2 . 290–292 . 10.1353/asa.2019.0020 . 208625707 . 2381-4721.
  75. Chu . Seo-Young . 2020 . Tiny Art Museum for the Floater in My Eye . ASAP/Journal . 5 . 3 . 509–510 . 10.1353/asa.2020.0025 . 226967530 . 2381-4721.
  76. Chu . Seo-Young . 2015 . "I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley" . Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media . en-US . 76–88.
  77. Chu . Seo-Young . 2009 . Dystopian Surface, Utopian Dream: Wittman Ah Sing foresees postethnic humanity . A New Literary History of America . en-US . 1020–1025.
  78. Chu . Seo-Young . Winter 1998 . Old Typewriter in a Field . The Yale Literary Magazine . en-US . 10.2 . 12–12.
  79. Chu . Seo-Young . 2020 . "Translator of Soliloquies: Fugues in the Key of Dissociation" . Black Warrior Review . en-US . 46 . 2 . 195–223.
  80. Web site: 11/20/2014 "Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics in North Korea" . Yale University . 2023-11-27.
  81. Web site: Chu . Seo-Young . 2015-05-07 . Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea . Humanities Commons . en-US.
  82. Web site: "Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea" . Yale University . 2023-11-27.
  83. Web site: 2014-10-15 . Franke Lectures to explore utopian literature . 2023-11-27 . YaleNews . en.
  84. Chu . Seo-Young Jennie . 2005 . Hypnotic Ratiocination . 41506211 . The Edgar Allan Poe Review . 6 . 1 . 5–19 . 2150-0428.
  85. Dream Life of Waste: Archaeologies of the Soul in the Key of Capitalism . Nat. Brut . 13 . Seo-Young Chu . 2023-11-27 . Fall 2020 . en.
  86. Web site: ctrl + v - seo-young chu . 2023-11-27 . ctrlvjournal.com.
  87. Web site: Seo-Young Chu: books, biography, latest update . 2023-11-27 . Amazon.com . en-us.
  88. Web site: Cristi . A. A. . I SEE YOU AND YOU SEE ME Premieres Thursday at Queens Theatre . 2023-12-07 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
  89. Web site: 2021-04-09 . New stage and film project gives life to Queens' pandemic experience . 2023-12-07 . Queens Daily Eagle . en-US.
  90. Book: Heti . Sheila . The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 . 2018-10-02 . Mariner Books . 978-1-328-46581-8 . Illustrated . en.
  91. Book: Abramson . Seth . BAX 2020: Best American Experimental Writing . Damiani . Jesse . 2020-12-08 . Wesleyan University Press . 978-0-8195-7958-4 . Machado . Carmen Maria . Middletown, Connecticut . English . McSweeney . Joyelle.
  92. Book: Prentiss . Sean . Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology . Nelson . Jessica Hendry . Wilkins . Joe . 2021-08-26 . Bloomsbury Academic . 978-1-350-06780-6 . English.
  93. Tolentino . Jia . 2019-11-06 . How "The Memory Police" Makes You See . en-US . The New Yorker . 2023-11-27 . 0028-792X.
  94. Web site: Foundation . Poetry . 2023-11-27 . Authentic Fake by Mia You . 2023-11-27 . Poetry Foundation . en.
  95. Web site: Irin . Carmon . Amelia . Schonbek . 2019-09-30 . Coming Forward About Sexual Assault, and What Comes After . 2023-11-27 . The Cut . en.
  96. Web site: 2022-04-18 . The Impossible, Crucial Task of Teaching About Rape as a Survivor . 2023-11-27 . Literary Hub . en-US.
  97. Web site: Schmalz . Julia . 'My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller' .
  98. Web site: Mangan . Katherine . November 11, 2017 . 2 Women Say Stanford Professors Raped Them Years Ago .
  99. Web site: Here's What Sexual Harassment Looks Like in Higher Education .
  100. Web site: Sexual Harassment and Assault in Higher Ed: What's Happened Since Weinstein .
  101. Web site: What Happens When Sex Harassment Disrupts Victims' Academic Careers .
  102. Web site: 2018-02-26 . Provost, General Counsel offer personal contributions to anti-sexual assault organization after Stanford denies Fliegelman victim's request for donation . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  103. Web site: 2017-12-05 . An open letter to Stanford on sexual harassment in academia . 2023-11-27 . en-US.
  104. Web site: 2017-12-02 . Behind the Fliegelman sexual misconduct investigation . 2023-11-27 . en-US.

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