Dr. Jinhee Lee
History Professor & Asian Studies Chair Office: 3755 - Coleman HallPhone: 217-581-3310
Email: jlee@eiu.edu
INTRODUCTION
Growing up with three sisters, Prof. Lee realized that memories and interpretations of the seemingly shared past could vary dramatically even within a family. As a natural extension of her interest in such dynamic process of producing historical narratives and memories, Dr. Lee's research focuses on unraveling complexity behind the competing narratives of collective violence in twentieth-century East Asia with particular attention to the Japanese empire. Committed to generating cross-disciplinary methodological innovation in the studies of mass violence under the influence of modern imperialism and colonialism, Prof. Lee incorporates a variety of "texts" such as rumors, oral testimonies, children's drawings, trial records, and (de)classified documents in and beyond conventional historical archives.
As a passionate educator and public historian of modern Korea, Japan, and China, Dr. Lee collaborates frequently for applied history projects for public benefits while sharing her findings through multilingual publications, invited lectures, documentary films, and museum exhibits on both sides of the Pacific. Prof. Lee teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the history of China, two Koreas, Japan as well as courses such as Global Empires, War Stories, World Wars, and World Religions. Her teaching and mentoring excellence has been recognized with Students' Distinguished Professor Award (Student Government), Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award (Graduate College), Most Influential Faculty for the Presidential Scholars (Honors College), Excellent Undergraduate Teaching Award, and numerous teaching-related grants and speech engagement.
Dr. Lee has served as Chair of the American Historical Association's Mentorship Award Committee as well as the founding and elected chair for the interdisciplinary Asian Studies program. She has served as the founding faculty advisor for a number of registered student organizations such as Asian American and Pacific Islander Association, Japanese Culture Club, and Asian Cinema Organization. Dr. Lee has been an invited speaker, fellow, and research associate at institutions such as Harvard University, Seoul National University, the University of Tokyo, National Museum of Japanese History, and the University of Oxford. Her critical commentaries on history denialism, fraudulent historical scholarship, and the issues of academic integrity against global populism in the "post-truth" era have appeared in national and international media such as the Wall Street Journal, Le Figaro, BBC, Shukan Kinyobi and numerous TV news programs. Dr. Lee's groundbreaking historical documentary film "1923 Kanto Massacre" (2024) was featured at the influential public venues such as the legislatures of the Republic of Korea and Japan as well as INALCO in France. Prof. Lee got her interdisciplinary training in history, anthropology, literature, and linguistics at the University of Illinois, University of Tokyo, Drexel University, and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
Graduate Mentoring
Diversity as Power
Education & Training
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Japanese Ministry of Education Fellow at the University of Tokyo
College Women’s Association of Japan Scholar, Yokohama
M.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.A. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea
Alison Rose Fellow at Drexel University, Philadelphia
International Culture College, Utsunomiya, Japan
Language Proficiency
Korean (native; publications in Korean)
Japanese (near native; publications in Japanese; training in classical Japanese)
Chinese (intermediate; training in classical Chinese)
Spanish (rudimentary)
Research & Creative Interests
Modern East Asia; Twentieth-century China, Korea, Japan; Japanese Empire
Narratives of Collective Violence in East Asia; Historiocal Knowledge Production and Collective Memories
Comparative Colonialism; Empire Studies; Legacies of Imperialism and Postcoloniality in East Asia
Race and Gender in Early Twentieth-century East Asia; Genocide Studies; Gendered Violence in Modern East Asia
Christianity and Colonialism in Empires; Christianity and Women in Modern East Asia
Social and Cultural Impact of War and Natural Disaster
Transnational/Transregional/Trans-Pacific Exchanges
[Visit Dr. Lee's publications, lectures, films, and interviews repository here.]
Frequently Taught Courses
- The Two Koreas; Modern Japan; Modern China (upper-level undergraduate history courses)
- Women in East Asia; Japanese Empire (interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses)
- Modern East Asia in the Pacific Century; East Asia through Film (interdisciplinary courses)
- World War II; Religion and Society; War Stories (interdisciplinary seminars)
- Empires in Global History; Twentieth-Century World History (general education courses)
- Proseminar in Modern World History (graduate seminar)
- Narratives of Collective Violence in East Asia (graduate seminar)
- Japanese Language and Cultural History (independent study)
- Korean Language and Cultural History (independent study)
- Study Abroad Courses and Field Trips
Conference Presentations
INVITED TALKS
Film and Talk, "1923 Kanto Massacre," Princeton University, 2025
Documentary Film "1923 Kanto Massacre" (Creative Producer Talk), The Japanese Diet (Members' Office Building, the Hall of the House of Councilors), Tokyo, Japan, 2024
Documentary Film "1923 Kanto Massacre" (Creative Producer Talk), The Korean National Assembly (Members' Office Building), Seoul, Korea, 2024
"Memories of the Kanto Massacre and History Denialism," Global Memory Work amidst Postcolonial and Postmigrant Shifts, Berlin and Leipzig, Germany, 2024
"1923 Kanto Massacre," The Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, France, 2024
"1923 Kanto Massacre," University of Orleans, France, 2024
"1923 Kanto Massacre," Sinema Transtopia, A²BC (African and Asian Berlin Communities) by Korea Verband, Berlin, Germany, 2024
"1923 Kanto Massacre," University of Bonn, Germany, 2024
The Centenery Kanto Earthquake Symposium, Kawasaki, Japan, 2023
The Centenery Kanto Genocide International Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, 2023
The Centenery International Symposium of the Massacre of Koreans and Chinese, Seoul, 2023
The 80th Nanjing Massacre Commemoration Symposium, University of Illinois
Korean Studies Working Group, Harvard University
History and East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Center for Korean Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Korean Studies Colloquium, University of California, Los Angeles
Korean Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania
Center for Asian Studies & Asian Languages and Cultures Colloquium, Northwestern University
Korean Studies Institute, University of Southern California
Korean Studies Lecture Series, Calvin University
Critical Studies on Asia Workshop, Dartmouth College
National Institute of Korean History, Seoul, Korea
The Independence Hall of Korea
Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University, Korea
Center for Northeast Asian Humanities and Social Sciences, Wonkwang University
International Law Association & Northeast Asian History Foundation Joint Conference, Seoul, Korea
Korea Foundation Global Korean Studies Forum, Seoul, Korea
Northeast Asian History Foundation, Seoul, Korea
Institute for Humanities for Unification, Kunkuk University, Seoul, Korea
University of Tokyo, Japan
Bunka Senta- Arirang, Kawaguchi-shi, Japan
ChÅsenshi kenkyÅ«kai [Korean History Association of Japan], Tokyo, Japan
Modern Japanese History Workshop, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), University of Illinois
The College Teaching Effectiveness Network, University of Illinois
Graduate Professional Development Seminar, University of Illinois
Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies K-12 Educators Workshop, University of Illinois
Asian Educational Media Service Film Festivals
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
American Historical Association Annual Conference
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference
American Anthropological Association Annual Conference
Association for Asian Studies Digital Dialogue
Association for Asian Studies Film Expo
Association of American Colleges and Universities Symposium
Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs
Southwest Conference on Asian Studies
Society for Cultural Interaction in East Asia
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Annual Conference
The University of Oxford Global Conference, UK
Eastern Illinois University's Diversity Workshop, Women's History Month Symposium, Asian Studies Colloquium, History Colloquium, New Faculty Orientation, Asian Heritage Month Symposium, Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity Annual Symposium, etc.
Funding & Grants
NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL GRANTS (select)
2020 Archive Travel Grant, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University
2018 U.S. Department of Education Title VI Curriculum Co-Development Grant, University of Illinois
2018 Kyujanggak Korean Studies Symposium Travel Awards, Seoul National University
2015 Senior Fellowship, Academy of Korean Studies, Korea
2014 Workshop Grant, Academy of Korean Studies, Korea
2010 Research Grant, National Museum of Japanese History/ National Institute for the Humanities, Japan
2008 Northeast Asia Council Research Grant, Association for Asian Studies
2003 Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Fellowship
2002 Japanese Ministry of Education Research Fellowship
2001 International Women’s Scholarship, College Women’s Association of Japan
2000 Itoh Foundation USA Fellowship
2000 Hiroko Araki Fowler Scholarship
UNIVERSITY GRANTS (select)
Summer Research Award, Council on Faculty Research
Research Course Release Awards and Travel Grants, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Travel Grants, Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity
Conference Grant, Collaboration Grant, Educational Partnership Grant, Faculty Development
Redden Grants for Undergraduate Instruction, University Foundation
Professional Affiliations
American Historical Association
Modern Japan History Association
China Christianity Studies Group
Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs
Yale-Edinburgh Group on World Christianity and the History of Mission
Community
As a trained art museum docent Dr. Lee enjoys connecting her historical profession with art education and art therapy for children and the elderly population in her local community.