Jinwon Kim

Jinwon Kim, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Prior to this position, she was a tenure-track assistant professor at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (2019-2024), and a visiting assistant professor of sociology at Hamilton College (2018-2019), Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2017-2018), and Oberlin College (2016-2017). 

Kim’s research and teaching focus on urban sociology, Asian and Asian American studies, race and ethnicity, transnational and global sociology, immigration, consumption, and qualitative research methods. 

Her first monograph, Transclave: Consuming Imagined Community in Koreatown, New York City (under contract with NYU Press, expected in 2025), examines how Korea’s nation-branding strategies involving Korean food and pop culture shape Manhattan’s Koreatown into a distinctive type of ethnic enclave, which she terms a “transclave”: a transnational space for Seoul-style consumption characterized by intensive flows of people, money, and consumer culture between the U.S. and Korea. This project is based on 135 in-depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research, and the full manuscript has been sent to the press for production.

She is currently working on two other book projects. 

The first, New Trends, Old Conflicts: New Black-Korean Relations in an Era of Global Racism and Global Media, examines anti-Blackness and emerging forms of Black-Korean relations and conflicts within the Korean media and entertainment industry. It moves beyond a U.S.-centered analysis of anti-Black racism, colorism, cultural appropriation, and interracial relations, situating these issues within the context of East Asian geopolitics. She conducted preliminary research from 2016 to 2018, followed by two rounds of international fieldwork in 2022 and 2023, completing 154 in-depth interviews in the U.S. and Korea. She plans to conduct a third and final round of international fieldwork by 2025.  

Her second project, From Chinatown to Koreatown: Immigration, Gentrification, and Spatial Boundaries in Flushing, New York City, examines interethnic and intraethnic relations among Chinese, Koreans, and Joseonjok (Korean Chinese—an ethnic minority group in China of Korean descent) in Flushing, New York City, within the context of transnational investment and gentrification. Drawing on 181 in-depth interviews with residents, workers, business owners, community leaders, and advocates, along with participant observation and archival research conducted since February 2024, this project investigates how these communities’ distinct immigration histories, East Asian geopolitics, and socio-economic stratification within the Asian community have shaped group relations and conflicts in this diverse, transnational neighborhood. Additionally, recent controversial plans for the Metropolitan Park casino and entertainment district at Citi Field—just one subway stop from Flushing—have further influenced these transformations. As a long-term initiative, she plans to continue this project over the next five years.

 Her work has appeared in City & Community, The International Journal of Cultural Policy, CUNY Forum, A Companion to Korean American Studies, COVID-19 and Global Cities: Comparative Perspectives (in Korean), and World Politics and Economy (in Korean). She also co-edited Koreatowns: Exploring the Economics, Politics, and Identities of Korean Spatial Formations with two other sociologists, and contributed chapters to the volume. This edited work was published by Lexington Books in 2020.