Elaine H. Kim is an American writer, editor and professor emerita in Asian American Studies and

Ethnic Studies Ethnic studies, in the United States, is the interdisciplinary study of difference—chiefly race, ethnicity, and nation, but also sexuality, gender, and other such markings—and power, as expressed by the state, by civil society, and by indivi ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Kim retired from teaching in 2015. Her academic interests and research areas included Asian American cultural studies, art, literature, Asian diaspora studies, and Asian American feminism.

Academic background

Kim received her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English and American Literature from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in English and Comparative Literature from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Social Foundations of Education from University of California, Berkeley. In 1995, Kim received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus Un ...

, and in 2004, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

Academic career

After joining the UC Berkeley faculty in 1974, Kim was a founding member of the Asian American Studies Program and the Ethnic Studies Department. In addition to teaching, Kim served UC Berkeley as a Faculty Assistant to the Chancellor for the Status of Women, Associate Dean of the Graduate Division, and Assistant Dean in the College of Letters and Science. A pioneering scholar of Asian American Studies, Kim's research areas included Asian American literature, culture, and feminism, and she was often a source for commentary on contemporary issues related to the Asian American community, such as affirmative action, anti-Asian violence, and nativist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Kim also studied the impact of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and civil disturbances on the Korean American community in light of the purported Korean cultural trait called ''

han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

''. Kim has lectured and presented keynote addresses and papers in many US universities as well as at various conferences and universities in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, France, Germany, Italy, and Trinidad. Selected academic publications include: *''Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context'', Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982 *''East to America: Korean American Life Stories'' (co-edited with Eui-Young Yu), New York: The New Press, 1996 *''Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism'', Routledge, 1997 *''Fresh Talk/Daring Gazes: Issues in Asian American Visual Art'', University of California Press, 2003 *''Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writing'', Temple University Press, 2003

Community activism

Kim's decades of community activism include founding and leading several Asian American community organizations in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. Kim helped start the Korean Community Center (now the Korean Community Center of the East Bay) in 1977. The Korean Community Center of the East Bay provides legal assistance for immigration issues and social services for the elderly. Kim founded Asian Women United of California in 1976. Through her work with AWU, Kim wrote, produced, and directed documentaries about Asian American women such as ''Labor Women'' in 2002 and ''Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded'' in 2011. Kim was also a co-producer of the 1993 documentary, '' Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women's Perspectives'', which recounts the 1992 Los Angeles uprisings and their impact on the Korean American community. In 1985, Kim secured the initial funding for the Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA), an Oakland-based organization to serve immigrant women garment and hotel workers.

Selected awards

* Asian Pacific American Heritage Lifetime Achievement Award (City and County of San Francisco), 2012 *Lifetime Achievement Award,

Association for Asian American Studies The Association for Asian American Studies was founded in 1979 as the Association for Asian/Pacific American Studies. The name was changed in 1982. The organization was established to promote teaching and research in Asian American studies. Its o ...

, 2011 *

Book Award in Cultural Studies, 2005 * Hall of Outstanding Women at California, 1995 * Fulbright Fellowship, 1987-1988

References

External links

Article "War Story" (c. 1950–1953, by Elaine H. Kim)

Asian Women United of California

Amazon book: Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism

Korean Community Center of the East Bay

Asian Immigrant Women AdvocatesCouncil of Korean AmericansWomen Make Movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Elaine H. Living people American writers of Korean descent American sociologists American women sociologists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty American literary critics Women literary critics 1942 births 21st-century American women American women critics