I am an independent scholar based in Georgia. I have taught courses on (East) Asian and Korean history at the University of British Columbia, Oberlin College, and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. My training focused on the history of Chosŏn Korea and early modern East Asia, while my other research interests include political legitimacy, science fiction, video games, and consilience of the humanities and sciences. My first book, King Chŏngjo, An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea (SUNY Press, 2019), is an analysis of King Chŏngjo (r. 1776-1800) as an early modern ruler. It refutes the consensus that the Korean monarch was weak and strengthens the case for an early modern world in the 17th and 18th centuries. Chŏngjo actualized the latent potential for absolute monarchy in Chosŏn, while his attempt to institutionalize that potential was ingenious but precarious. The early modern world could support a monarch exalted above nobility, but institutionalized separation of powers would await the 20th century. You can find the book’s abstract here and an interview with me about the book at the New Books Network here.
The only choice is: “Destroy the Reapers”.