Sean S. Han

Associate Director

Dr. Han is an assistant professor in Asian History at the University of Alabama. His book project, Underdogs Scriptosphere: Sinographic Network and Korean Nationhood, 1860-1945, rewrites East Asian cultural history at the turn of the twentieth century from the alternative cartography of international relations. As the first critical study of Sino-Korean cultural dialogues in the modern era, Underdogs Scriptosphere looks into the transnational flow of knowledge that reconfigured the geopolitical, linguistic, and historical linkages between China and Korea. The book highlights postcoloniality of various actions and agendas between the Chinese and Koreans, as alternative and creative ways of imagining East Asian modernity in relation to race, colonialism, and globalization. His research has already gained international recognition including two consecutive Junior Scholar Prizes by the Academy of Korean Studies. His recent publication includes “Informal Diplomacy in Chosŏn Korea and New Engagement with the West and Westernised Japan, 1873–1876” (2022) and “Sports Hero Sammy Lee(1920-2016): A Korean Diaspora, Doctor, and Olympic Gold Medalist” (2021). Dr. Han earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University and B.A. from Seoul National University.