Heangjin Park

Heangjin Park is a sociocultural anthropologist specializing in food, commodities, and nationalism across South Korea and China. His current book project, Diasporic Visions of Korean-Chinese Kimchi, examines how global capitalism and nationalism are coproduced through the movement of “Korean” kimchi and Korean-Chinese (chosonjok) entrepreneurs across borders. Based on ethnographic research at a kimchi company in Qingdao, China, Park explores how geopolitical and capitalist forces shape kimchi’s commodity value and cultural identity, and how Korean diaspora entrepreneurs express their political and economic aspirations through kimchi production. His research has received support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Paulson Institute, and Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation.

Park’s upcoming ethnographic project, Fermenting across Korea and America, further explores Korean food and diasporic connections. This research follows Korean-American chefs reconnecting with their culinary heritage by learning to make jang—fermented soybean paste—from South Korean artisanal producers. By studying how fermentation knowledge transfers between South Korean masters and Korean-American chefs, Park examines the postcolonial, nationalist, and gendered aspects of cultural representation across the Pacific.

Before joining the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Park was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago (2021-2022) and Assistant Professor in Asian and Asian American Studies at Loyola Marymount University (2022-2025). He has taught courses on social theory, Anthropology of Business, Political and Economic Issues in Contemporary Asia, Asian Food, and Transpacific Korea. At UW-Madison, he plans to offer undergraduate and graduate courses on Korean culture and society, Asian Food, and diasporic mobility.

Education:

Ph.D. University of Chicago, Anthropology (2021)

M.A. University of Chicago, Anthropology (2014)

M.A. Seoul National University, Anthropology (2009)

Expertise: South Korea, China, food, diasporic mobility, nationalism, globalization, logistics, design, photography

Selected Publication:

Designing “Korean” Kimchi: Speculative Configuration of Distance and Commodity Value in the Chinese Kimchi Industry Economic Anthropology (2027)

Reading from Cutouts: The Aesthetics of Alienation in the Photos of Chinese Factory Workers Anthropology and Photography Vol. 15 (2022) Anthropology and Photography Vol. 15 (2022)