This month Ms Jing Hu joins the Aftermath Project as a Research Support Technicial. Ms Hu is a social historian of Chosŏn Korea, specializing in the social mobility of the chungin (“middle people”) and digital Korean studies. She obtained her MA degree in Cultural Informatics from the Academy of Korean Studies in 2014, after which she continued her studies as a PhD candidate at Leiden University (2016-2022), and KU Leuven (2022-).
Jing’s research sheds light on the upward mobility of Chosŏn official interpreters (yŏkkwan) by examining the variables affecting the social status of the chungin such as birth, degree, economic capital, and cultural networks. Her research approach features digital methods including social network analysis, digital annotation, ontology design, and GIS. During her doctoral studies, she participated in the creation of the Korean text annotation platform K-MARKUS Abre en nueva ventanaand the text comparison platform ZGZY Parallels Abre en nueva ventana. As part of the Aftermath of the East Asian War project, Jing provides Digital Humanities training and support to the Aftermath team and is investigating the downward social mobility of Chosŏn Korea from the 17th century onwards, with a particular focus on the downward mobility of military officers (muban) after the Imjin War.
