Didi Kyoung-ae Han
Centre for Multicultural Collaborative Learning, Saitama University;
Saitama, Japan
E-mail: handidi@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp
Personal web: https://handidi.net
ORCiD 0000-0001-5338-0033
SUMMARY
Didi Han is Associate Professor at the Centre for Multicultural Collaborative Learning, Saitama University, Japan. She received her PhD in Urban Studies/Human Geography from the London School of Economics and Political Science and her MA in Communication Studies from Simon Fraser University. A multilingual scholar working across Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English, she maintains active research collaborations with scholars at institutions across East Asia, and is actively engaged in international academic networks in the fields of urban studies and commons research. Alongside her scholarly work, she has pursued the translation and commoning of ideas through numerous translation projects across English, Korean, and Japanese.
Didi Han is a scholar whose work traverses urban political ecology, commons studies, feminism, cultural studies, communication, philosophy, and anthropology. Through a distinctive methodology that combines extensive ethnographic fieldwork in East Asian cities with genealogical historical archiving, she contributes to expanding the horizons of critical urban theory beyond its predominantly Western framings.
RESEARCH KEYWORDS
Urban Commons, Urban Political Ecology, Precariat, Social Reproduction and Infrastructure, Finance, Affective Economy, Work and Home, East Asian Cities, Comparative Urbanism, Co-research
Research Profiles
External academic and research profile links
CURRENT POSITIONS
Associate Professor
Centre for Multicultural Collaborative Learning
Saitama University, Japan
Visiting Researcher
Asia Centre
Seoul National University, Korea
PREVIOUS ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Research Fellow
Asia Centre
Seoul National University, Korea
Part-time Lecturer
Saitama University
Japan
Research Fellow
Andong National University
Korea
Part-time Lecturer
Humanitas College, Kyung Hee University
Korea
Visiting Fellow
Department of Geography and Environment, LSE
UK
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Urban Studies and Human Geography
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Thesis: Producing Urban Commons between Autonomy and Togetherness:
A Genealogical Analysis of the Precariat movements in Tokyo and Seoul
MA Communication and Cultural Studies
Simon Fraser University, Canada
BA Korean Literature
Sung Kyoon Gwan University, Korea
LANGUAGES
English: Spoken: Fluent; Written: Fluent
Japanese: Spoken: Fluent; Written: Fluent
Mandarin Chinese: Spoken: Intermediate (completed the highest level of Chinese language course at Beijing Language and Culture University); Written: Basic
Korean: Mother Tongue
