Kyoim Yun

Kyoim Yun (PhD) is associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Kansas. An award-winning teacher and advisor, she has been developing the university’s Korean Studies program since 2007. Her research has led to published articles in the Journal of Korean Studies, Journal of Shamanic Practice, Journal of Folklore Research, Journal of American Folklore, and Journal of Ritual Studies. She also served as guest editor for the special issue of Folklore Forum on Folklore of East Asia. Her book The Shaman’s Wages: Trading in Ritual on Cheju Island was published by the University of Washington Press with the generous support of the Association of Asian Studies book subvention and Korea University’s International Center for Korean Studies Publication Grant. She has been working on new ethnographic research on the role of Korean Buddhism in promoting hope and optimism among the laity in the context of the prevailing therapeutic ethos in post high-growth South Korea.