The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is delighted to welcome Dr Sang-Keun Yoo, who joined the University of Cambridge in September 2026 as Assistant Professor in Korean Popular Culture.
Dr Yoo is a scholar of Korean and global popular culture, science fiction, literature, and visual media. His research explores popular culture in relation to history, religion, technology, race, gender, and transnational cultural exchange. His appointment strengthens the Faculty’s growing teaching and research in Korean Studies and East Asian popular culture.
Before joining Cambridge, Dr Yoo was Assistant Professor of English at Marist University in New York and previously taught at the University of San Diego. He received his PhD from the University of California, Riverside, with a Designated Emphasis in Speculative Fiction and Cultures of Science.
His first monograph, Speculative Orientalism: Asian Religions in New Wave Science Fiction (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025), examines the important but often overlooked role of Asian religions, particularly Buddhism and Daoism, in the development of Anglophone science fiction. He is also the editor of the forthcoming Routledge History of Korean Science Fiction, which brings together scholarship on the history and development of Korean science fiction. His wider research encompasses Korean film and television, speculative fiction, zombie narratives, translation, artificial intelligence, posthumanism, and popular religion.
At Cambridge, Dr Yoo contributes to both the MPhil in East Asian Popular Culture and Korean Studies. His teaching introduces students to topics including Korean film and television, K-pop, science fiction and fantasy, historical drama, zombie and outbreak narratives, digital cultures, and the continuing influence of premodern religions and traditions on contemporary popular culture.
His appointment reflects the Faculty’s commitment to developing popular culture as a significant area of research and teaching. The global circulation of Korean cinema, television, music, webtoons, games, and digital media provides new opportunities for students to explore broader questions of globalization, cultural translation, technology, history, and identity.
Students interested in these areas can pursue them through Cambridge’s MPhil in East Asian Popular Culture across Time and the Korean Studies pathway, drawing on expertise across Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and transnational East Asian studies. Dr. Yoo welcomes enquiries from both MPhil and PhD students who are seriously interested in researching Korean popular culture and science fiction, although he is currently prioritizing MPhil students.
Dr. Sang-Keun Yoo's profile: https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/people/sang-keun-yoo