About Me
I am a social and cultural historian of Choson Korea (1392-1910). My teaching is more broadly oriented, and I try to provide to my students at King's University College at the University of Western Ontario a pan-East Asian and global perspective, in so far as I am able to to do so. In part this is driven by the simple fact that I am one of two non-Western historians n the department, but it is also a wonderful excuse for me to look into the histories of regions of the world that I might not otherwise explore - including, these days, the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran.
I completed my PHD at the University of Toronto under the direction of Prof. Andre Schmid. Before coming to King's University College, I worked at such universities as St. Mary's University in Halifax, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and Korea University's Research Institute of Korean Studies in Seoul.
My family travelled around Canada and Europe when I was growing up, but I mostly grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and indeed received my undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta. Before starting my PhD at the University of Toronto, I received my Master’s degree from Kangwon National University in Chuncheon in South Korea.
What am I doing now? Well, in addition to my research program and teaching, I am enjoying rereading poems, including by such Canadian poets as AJM Smith and FR Scott and German language poets.such as Rilke and von Hofmannsthal, and South Korean poets such as Kim Suyong and Ki Hyongdo. Between research and teaching, and getting used to life in London, Ontario (which has, by the way, some fantastic used-books stores with the late 19th-early 20th century books of poetry), I am keeping busy.
Please enjoy looking around. Well there is much work to be done, my website includes my CV, information about my teaching and research, as well as an outline of a recent conference on biography which I helped organize..