CV
Seo-Young Chu
Associate Professor
Department of English
Queens College, CUNY
seoyoung.chu1@qc.cuny.edu
Education
B.A. Yale, 1999
M.A. Stanford, 2001
Ph.D. Harvard, 2007
Interests
The 20th century, the 21st century, the 22nd century, aesthetics, Asian American studies, close reading, cultural theory, design fiction, digital writing, disability, DMZ studies, genders, genre, the gothic, han/hwabyung, image descriptions, the Koreas, lyric poetry, #MeTooAcademia, mental illness, modernism, rape studies, rhetoric, science fiction, theory, trauma, ungrading
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
A Refuge for Jae-in Doe and Other Fugues. Forthcoming. Punctum Books. 2026.
“Closely Associated: The Metonymic Logic of Rape Culture.” New Rape Studies. Under contract.
“Describing DICTEE.”Paideuma: Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. Vol. 49. Summer 2024.
“Differentially Unwell: On Mimi Khúc’s dear elia.” The Los Angeles Review of Books. March 5, 2024.
“You Are Invited: A Conversation on Sexual Violence in Asian America.” Co-authored with Thaomi Michelle Dinh (lead author). Amerasia Journal. January 18, 2024.
“Survivor-Shaped Specters and Gaps.” Callisto. January 11, 2024.
“Excerpts from an Anti-Standardized ‘수능’: A Design-Fictional Approach to Korea.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, volume. 34, number 2. Edited by Haerin Shin and Sang-Keun Yoo. Fall 2023.
“Jogakpo Window (7 feet x 4 feet).” ctrl+v. Issue 12. 2023.
“I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor.” The Margins/Asian American Writers’ Workshop. February 21, 2023.
- Nominated for Best of the Net.
“Dear Stanford: You must reckon with your history of sexual violence.” The Stanford Daily. July 2022.
“Imagining an Asian American Superhero of North Korean Origin.” Asian American Literature in Transition: 1996-2020. Edited by Betsy Huang and Victor Roman Mendoza. Cambridge University Press. 2021.
– Korean translation here: https://www.webzineriks.or.kr/post/북한-기원의-아시아계-미국인-슈퍼히어로를-상상하기-주서영
“I See You and You See Me.” Contributing writer (see the section on “Seo-Young”). Queens Theatre. 2021.
“Tiny Art Museum for the Floater in My Eye.” ASAP/Journal. Volume 5, Number 5. September 2020.
“Translator of Soliloquies: Fugues in the Key of Dissociation.” Chapbook. Black Warrior Review 46.2. Spring 2020.
“Dream Life of Waste: Archaeologies of the Soul in the Key of Capitalism.” Nat. Brut. Issue 13. Fall 2019.
- Nominated for Best of the Net.
“Dream of the Ambassador, 12/21/2016,” “The Lyric We,” “Two Koreas, in the Key of Emily Dickinson” (poems). Queens Review/Newtown Literary, Issue 14, Spring/Summer 2019. Poems performed at the 9th Annual New York City Poetry Festival, July 27th + 28th, 2019, Governors Island.
“Are Postmodernism and #MeToo Incompatible?” The Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education. Jun 14, 2019.
“Emoji Poetics.” ASAP/Journal. Volume 4, Number 2. Published by Johns Hopkins University Press. May 2019.
“Free Indirect Suicide: An Unfinished Fugue in H Minor.” The Rumpus. March 26th, 2019.
- Listed among “Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction” in The Best American Essays 2020.
- Nominated for a Best of the Net 2019 award
“The DMZ Responds.” Telos. Special Issue on Korea. Ed. Haerin Shin. Fall 2018.
“After ‘A Refuge for Jae-in Doe’: A Social Media Chronology.” ASAP Journal. March 15, 2018.
“A Refuge for Jae-in Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major,” Entropy. November 3, 2017.
“Generation Hwabyung Telepathy” and “A Resume of Traumas,” published as part of a Testimonial Tapestry in Asian American Literary Review, Special Issue on Mental Health: Open In Emergency. Ed. Mimi Khúc. 2017.
“M’어머니.” Kartika Review. March 2017.
“Acts of Postmemory Han in the Key of the Children I Will Never Have.” Hawaii Review. 2017.
“What is the maiden name of Frankenstein’s creature?” and “I am Korean American.” Mithila Review. 2016.
“Life 38.” Mithila Review. Aug 8, 2016.
“I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley.” Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media. Edited by David S. Roh, Betsy Huang, and Greta A. Niu. Rutgers University Press. 2015.
“√-1, Other.” Science Fiction Studies. Vol. 42. Number 2. July 2015.
“Chogakpo Fantasia.” And/Or. 2015.
“Science-Fictional North Korea: A Defective History.” Deletion: The Open Access Online Forum In Science Fiction Studies. Ed. Marleen Barr. April 2014.
“Welcome to The Vegas Pyongyang.” Science Fiction Studies. 39.3. Special issue focusing on globalization. Eds. David Higgins and Rob Latham. 2012.
“Science Fiction and Lyric Poetry.” Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction. Edited by Leigh Grossman. 2011.
Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation. Harvard University Press. 2011.
“CHIMERICAL MOSAIC: SELF TEST KIT IN D# MINOR,” DIAGRAM 10.2. 2010.
“Dystopian Surface, Utopian Dream: Wittman Ah Sing Foresees Postethnic Humanity.” A New Literary History of America. Eds. Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors. Harvard UP. 2009.
“Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature.” MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States) 33.4. “Alien/Asian: Imagining the Racialized Future.” Ed. Stephen Hong Sohn. 2008.
- Note: “Science Fiction and Postmemory Han” has been cited by Amanda Gorman in Call Us What We Carry.
“Hwabyung Fragments.” Segue 5.2. 2006.
“Dickinson and Mathematics.” The Emily Dickinson Journal 15.1. 2006.
“Hypnotic Ratiocination.” The Edgar Allan Poe Review.Vol. 6, No. 1 (SPRING 2005).
WORK IN PROGRESS
The Poetics of Image Descriptions: Lyricism, the Speculative, and Ocularly Estranging Referents
A Book of Alt Text Poems
SELECTED VIDEOS
“A Conversation on Sexual Violence in Asian America” (Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago)
“AAWW TV: Robot Coda” (Asian American Writers’ Workshop)
“Beyond the Catastrophic Origins of the Korean DMZ” / “The Human Rights of a No-Man’s Land” (Queens College, CUNY, and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
“Korean American #MeToo” (Korean American Story)
“How #MeToo Helped Seo-Young Chu Name Her Harasser” (New York Magazine)
“My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller” (Chronicle of Higher Education)
“NOT HERE: ASIAN AMERICAN WRITERS ON GENERATIONAL TRAUMA” (Connecticut Office of the Arts)
“On Audio Descriptions and Anti-Asian Violence” (MLA)
“Seo-Young discusses her struggles at Yale, stress culture, and gives some advice and perspective” (Elis for Rachael)
Seo-Young Chu on “Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?” (TTBOOK)
“Transnational Dialogue on Science Fiction” (Kaya Press)
“Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea” (Yale University)
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS, TALKS, PERFORMANCES, ROUNDTABLES, INTERVIEWS
Invited Speaker, University of Zurich, Switzerland. “Theorizing Image Descriptions: Literature And/As Alt Text.” June 2024.
Roundtable panelist, “Creativity and Critique in Asian American Literature: A Critical Methods Roundtable” at CAALS Virtual Conference 2024: https://caals.org/archives/1339 (June 7, 2024).
Invited Guest Speaker, “One in Five: The Law, Policy, and Politics of Campus Sexual Assault.” Professor Alyssa Burgart. Stanford University. May 2024.
Invited Guest Speaker, Sexual Violence in Asian America, Professor Thaomi Michelle Dinh, Stanford University. May 2024.
Co-Organizer, Harvard Diversity Discussions, Race and Mental Health: Cultural Conceptions. Organized by Jenny Korn (MPP ’98), Ngozi Okose (ALM ’18), Darold Cuba (MPA ’21), Dr. Seo-Young Chu (AM 2003 PHD 2007 RDI 2008), and Eisha Khan (ALM ’22). Thursday, November 9, 2023, 5-6 pm Eastern. Zoom.
Storytelling Slam Finalist, “Calling on the Power of My Mother’s Voice: A Code-Switching Performance,” Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance, fall 2023. Cambridge, MA.
Invited Guest Speaker, Sexual Violence in Asian America, Professor Thaomi Michelle Dinh, Stanford University. May 2023.
Invited Guest Speaker, One In Five. Professor Michele Dauber and Professor Alyssa Burgart. Stanford University. February 2023.
Invited participant/interlocutor, “NOT HERE: ASIAN AMERICAN WRITERS ON GENERATIONAL TRAUMA.” Organized by Joan Kwon Glass. Five Asian American writers read from their work & dialogue with one another on the issue of generational trauma. May 12 2022.
Invited participant/interlocutor, class on gender and sexual violence in Asian America, Professor Thaomi Michelle Dinh, University of Chicago, May 14 2022.
“Beyond the Catastrophic Origins of the Korean DMZ,” Queens College, May 6 2022
Guest lecture, Professor Michele Dauber’s class on campus assault, Stanford Law School, 9 Feb. 2022.
”Audio Description and Anti-Asian American Violence,” given at 2022 MLA session, Anti-Asian American Violence, 8 Jan. 2022 (online).
“Imagining an Asian American Superhero of North Korean Origin: a Design Fiction,” presented at the SF and Geopolitical Aesthetics conference, the 2nd Sungkyun Annual International Forum on Cultural Studies, held at Sung Kyun Kwan University, Seoul, Korea, 10-11 Dec. 2021 (online).
“Roundtable on Korean Diasporas,” organized by Professor Dougal McNeill, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 10 Nov. 2021 (online).
”A Transnational Dialogue on Science Fiction.” Nalo Hopkinson and Kim Bo-Young, moderated by Seo-Young Chu, with Sunyoung Park and Jungmin Lee also participating. Organized by Queens College and Kaya Press, 30 Oct. 2021 (online).
A dialogue among the contributors (Thaomi Michelle Dinh, Brian Dan Trinh, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Seo-Young Chu, Margaret Rhee) to #WeToo, a collection of essays, poems, creative nonfiction, and experimental works, published by the Journal of Asian American Studies (2021). Organized by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, 12 July 2021.
Panel on Godzilla. Panelist. Big Apple Comic Con. Spring 2019.
Asian American Writers’ Workshop, AAWW TV Robot Coda, Intersection of Love,
Race, and Technology, 10 May 2018.
“Slow and Other Forms of Violence in The Three-Body Problem.” Brandeis Novel Symposium , 20-21 Apr. 2018.
“Vocation and Catastrophe.” Keynote Speech at 2018 Conference on “Catastrophe! Living and Thinking through the End Time,” Indiana University, 30-31 Mar. 2018.
“The Square Root of Negative Korea,” a Special Guest Lecture Organized by Graduate Student English Association, University of California, Riverside, 8 Feb. 2018.
“North Korean Vibes, Korean American Pronouns,” Language, Translation, and Global Scale, Oct. 26, 2017, ASAP/9, The Arts of the Present, 26-28 Oct. 2017 , hosted by the University of California, Berkeley.
“Ex-DPRK Hallyu.” A draft chapter for Against Unification of the Koreas. Presented at Science-Fiction and Chinese Literature Workshop, Fudan University, at the invitation of International Center for the Studies of Chinese Civilization, Jun. 2016.
”BIOATO: Beauty, Its Opposite, and Their Others.” Queens College, CUNY, English Honors Program Annual Conference. Co-organizer, performer, interlocutor, designer, May (the 4th!), 2016.
“Notes on How to Teach Videogames.” Faculty Seminar. Queens College English
Department. CUNY, 21 Apr. 2016.
”Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea.” Lecture invited by Professor John Rogers . Franke Lectures in the Humanities, Whitney Humanities Center. Yale University, 20 Nov. 2014. The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PooQvoG-a5c
“Against Unification of the Koreas.” Conference titled ” Against…Genre, History, Nation.” Queens College, CUNY, 27 Oct. 2014.
“From Desertitis to Jamais Vu: Symptoms of the Future of the Korean DMZ in Dance Dance Revolution by Cathy Park Hong.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Chicago, IL, 11 Jan. 2014.
”The Spacetime of the DMZ: Quantum North Korea and Geomantic Black Holes.” Talk invited by Professor Brian McHale, Director of Project Narrative. The Ohio State University, 14 Oct. 2013.
”Global and Science-Fictional Dimensions of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.” Talk invited by Professor Carol Dougherty and Professor Mingwei Song. Symposium on Global Science Fiction. The Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College, 8-9 Mar. 2013.
“The Poetics of Defection in the Artwork of Song Byeok and Sun Mu.” Session title: “Past and Future in North Korean Literature and Culture.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Boston, MA, 4 Jan. 2013.
Renaissance Weekend. Invited participant. Monterey Bay, CA, 30 Jun.-4 Jul. 2012.
“Re-Humanizing the North Korean Chimera in I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (싸이보그지만 괜찮아).” New Jersey College English Association (NJCEA) 35th Annual Spring Conference. Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, 14 Apr. 2012.
“Literal and Figurative Aspects of the DMZ.” Lecture invited by the Hunter College Graduate English Club. Hunter College, CUNY, 22 Mar. 2012.
“The Detention of Ethnic Stereotypes in the Uncanny Valley.” Session arranged by the Society for Critical Exchange. Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Annual Conference. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 8 Apr. 2011.
”North Korea and Science Fiction.” Lecture invited by Professor Sukhdev Sandhu. Program in Asian/Pacific/American Studies. New York University, 28 Feb. 2011.
“A Poetics of Documentary Fantasy: Yong Soon Min’s Defining Moments.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Los Angeles, CA , 8 Jan. 2011.
“Science-Fictional North Korea.” American Comparative Literature Association
(ACLA) Annual Conference. Cambridge, MA, 29 Mar. 2009.
“The DMZ and Other Ghostly ‘Heartlands’ of Korean America .” Association for
Asian American Studies (AAAS) Annual Conference. Chicago, IL, 19 Apr. 2008.
”Robot Rights and the Uncanny Valley.” Panel arranged by the Literature and
Science Area of the American Culture Association. Popular Culture Association /
American Culture Association National Conference. Boston, MA. 7 Apr. 2007.
“Science Fiction and Music.” Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) 37th
Annual Conference. White Plains, NY, 24 Jun. 2006.
“Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey.” Guest lecture for “Literature of
Migration and Ethnicity: The Case of the United States.” Harvard University.
Cambridge, MA, 10 Apr. 2006.
“Unnarratable Desire: Nightwood, A.D.’s Afterlife, and The Well of Loneliness.” Panel arranged by the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature. Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention.Washington, DC, 30 Dec. 2005.
“Hypnotic Ratiocination.” Panel arranged by the Poe Studies Association. MLA Annual Convention. Philadelphia, PA, 30 Dec. 2004.
“Robot Onomatopoeia: D.H. Lawrence, Futurism, and Edison’s Talking Doll.” Modernist Studies Association (MSA), Sixth Annual Conference. Vancouver, BC, 24 Oct. 2004.
“Dickinson and Mathematics.” Panel arranged by the Dickinson International Society. American Literature Association (ALA) Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA, 27 May 2004.
“Dislocation and Echolocation: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference. Ann Arbor, MI, 16 Apr. 2004.
“Instant Messenger Dialogue: An Experimental Performance.” Addressing Dialogue: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA, 9 Apr. 2004.
“Voice, Identity, and Onomatopoeia: Dictee.” Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Annual Conference. Boston, MA, 27 Mar. 2004.
“Early American Knowledge.” American Literature Association (ALA) Annual Conference. Cambridge, MA, 22 May 2003.
“Still Life of Humanoid Robot: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and We Can Build You.” Still Life: A Graduate Student Conference. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 21 Mar. 2003.
“Narrating the Afterlife of World War I: Last and First Men.” Panel arranged by the MLA Discussion Group on Science Fiction and Utopian and Fantastic Literature. MLA Annual Convention. New York, NY, 27 Dec. 2002.
“The League of Nations and ‘An Americanized Planet.’” American Studies
Association (ASA) Annual Convention. Houston, TX, 16 Nov. 2002.
“The Displacement of Cyberspace .” ACLA Annual Conference. San Juan, PR, 12 Apr. 2002.
“The Oracle and the Artifact: William Gibson’s Science Fiction.” 20th-Century
Literature and Cultural Theory Colloquium. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 15 Mar. 2002.
“Cyberspace Materialized: From the Sprawl Series to the Bridge Trilogy.” ALA.
Conference on Contemporary American Literature. Santa Fe, NM, 27 Oct. 2001.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
COURSES TAUGHT (once, twice, or more) AT QUEENS COLLEGE, CUNY
- English 151W: Readings in British Literature
- English 165H: Introduction to Poetry
- English 170W: Introduction to Literary Study
- English 243: Genre
- English 244: Theory
- English 255: Global Literatures in English
- English 314: Theorizing Popular Culture
- English 369: Asian American Literature
- English 379: The Korean DMZ and Its Others
- English 391W: Science Fiction
- English 399H: Honors Seminar on Aesthetics: Beauty, Its Opposites, and their Others
- English 636: History of Literary Criticism
- English 733: Asian American Literature
COURSES TAUGHT AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
- “American Visions and Voices,” History and Literature, 2008-2009.
- “American Characters,” History and Literature, 2007-2008.
- “Transnational Modernism,” English and American Literature and Language, fall 2007.
- “Science Fiction,” English and American Literature and Language, spring 2006.
- “Lesbian Gothic,” English and American Literature and Language, spring 2005.
- “The Asian American Literary Canon,” English and American Literature and Language, fall 2004.
- “Asian American Literature,” English and American Literature and Language, spring 2004.
UNDERGRADUATE THESES SUPERVISED AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
- “The Hero We Create: 9/11 and the Reinvention of Batman,” Joshua Feblowitz, History and Literature, 2008-2009.
- “Classical Music and Film: An Analysis of How 2001: A Space Odyssey Popularized Also Sprach Zarathustra in American Society,” Kyle Wiggins, History and Literature, 2008-2009.
- “Robert Johnson and His Journey through Modern Prose and Poetry,” Aubrie Pagano, History and Literature, 2007-2008.
- “Giving Back the Name: Sanora Babb’s Insight into Feminism and Environmentalism,” Rikka Strong, History and Literature, 2007-2008.
SECTIONS TAUGHT AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
- “Literature of Migration and Ethnicity: The Case of the United States,” Professor Werner Sollors, English and American Literature and Language, spring 2006.
- “The Nineteenth-Century Novel,” Professor Elaine Scarry, English and American Literature and Language, spring 2005.
- “Putting Modernism Together,” Professor Daniel Albright, Core Curriculum, fall 2004.
- “Modern British Fiction,” Professor Peter Nohrnberg, English and American Literature and Language, spring 2004.
- “The Elements of Rhetoric,” Professor James Engell, English and American Literature and Language, fall 2003.
SECTIONS TAUGHT AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY: “American Literature and Culture to 1855,” Professor Jay Fliegelman (who sexually harassed and raped me while I was his advisee, teaching assistant, and teaching observee), winter 2000. I had just turned 22 years old. I was naive and inexperienced. I was a first-year graduate student, new to the profession, new to teaching, new to California, new to Stanford. He was tenured. He was powerful. He was in his 50s. He had been a Stanford institution for decades. This is disjointed because I’m re-living it all over again. Shortly after he violated me, I was hospitalized. Shortly after I was discharged from the hospital, I gave a guest lecture on Seneca Falls and women’s rights. His response was to tell me I forgot to mention women’s right to sexual pleasure. There are gaps here because trauma is nonlinear, trauma broke my sense of time. At some point Stanford conducted an investigation. As a result of the investigation, which was a brutal experience, Stanford punished my abuser by suspending him for two years without pay. Some of his colleagues had the audacity to blame me for the whole situation. I’m angry. I’m experimenting with incorporating my anger into this CV. The truth is that my career started with rape. My career is a product of rape. My career has been shaped by rape. My sense of who I am as an academic: shaped by rape. The gaps in my CV are trauma-generated plot holes that lead to Northern California in the year 2000.
PRESS/MEDIA APPEARANCES
“Professor Spotlight: Professor Seo-Young Chu” by Aliyah Ali. The Knight News. December 5, 2023.
SCIENCE FICTION
LIVING IN QUEENS DURING A PANDEMIC
KOREAN/KOREAN AMERICAN CULTURE
– “Flash of Remembrance: The Multiplicities of Ed Park” By Alisyn Amant. March 2024. https://brooklynrail.org/2024/03/books/Flash-of-Remembrance-The-Multiplicities-of-Ed-Park
SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND RAPE CULTURE
- “Ghost From the Past: Professor’s essay about being harassed and raped by her late adviser sparks calls for public acknowledgment of the reasons for his past suspension from Stanford and the renaming of a disciplinary society mentorship award that bore his name.” By Colleen Flaherty (November 9, 2017). https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/11/09/essay-about-being-raped-professor-sparks-call-public-acknowledgment-stanford-and
- “2 Women Say Stanford Professors Raped Them Years Ago.” By Katherine Mangan (NOVEMBER 11, 2017). https://www.chronicle.com/article/2-women-say-stanford-professors-raped-them-years-ago/
- “English faculty told to redirect press questions on sexual assault allegations to University communications.” By Brian Contreras (Nov. 13, 2017, 1:00 a.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/13/english-faculty-told-to-redirect-press-questions-on-sexual-assault-allegations-to-university-communications
- “Sexual Harassment and Assault in Higher Ed: What’s Happened Since Weinstein.” By Nell Gluckman , Brock Read, Bianca Quilantan, and Katherine Mangan (NOVEMBER 13, 2017). https://www.chronicle.com/article/sexual-harassment-and-assault-in-higher-ed-whats-happened-since-weinstein
- “Editorial Board: Let’s hold faculty to a higher standard on sexual assault.” Opinion by Vol. 252 Editorial Board (Nov. 14, 2017, 3:00 a.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2017/11/14/editorial-board-lets-hold-faculty-to-a-higher-standard-on-sexual-assault/
- “Here’s What Sexual Harassment Looks Like in Higher Education.” By Katherine Mangan (NOVEMBER 16, 2017). https://www.chronicle.com/article/heres-what-sexual-harassment-looks-like-in-higher-education/
- “Open Letter from Alumni to Stanford: Not in Our Name.” by OP-ED (NOVEMBER 22, 2017). https://stanfordpolitics.org/2017/11/22/open-letter-alumni-stanford-not-in-our-name/
- “‘A Professor Is Kind of Like a Priest’: Two recent cases reveal how the structure of American graduate schools enables sexual harassment and worse.” By Irene Hsu and Rachel Stone (Nov. 30, 2017). New Republic.https://newrepublic.com/article/146049/a-professor-kind-like-priest
- “Stanford: Sexual misconduct revelation exposes storied professor’s secret.” (Dec. 1, 2017). https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/30/stanford-sexual-misconduct-revelation-exposes-storied-professors-secret/
- “Behind the Fliegelman sexual misconduct investigation.” By Fangzhou Liu (Dec. 2, 2017, 3:37 p.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2017/12/02/behind-the-fliegelman-sexual-misconduct-investigation/
- “Former students of Jay Fliegelman describe inappropriate relationships, sexual misconduct in 1980s, 1990s.” By RUAIRÍ ARRIETA-KENNA (DECEMBER 3, 2017). https://stanfordpolitics.org/2017/12/03/jay-fliegelman-sexual-misconduct/
- “An open letter to Stanford on sexual harassment in academia.” Opinion by Gloria Fisk and From the Community (Dec. 5, 2017, 3:00 a.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2017/12/05/an-open-letter-to-stanford-on-sexual-harassment-in-academia/ NOTE: Professor Alex Woloch has yet to respond.
- “What Happens When Sex Harassment Disrupts Victims’ Academic Careers.” By Nell Gluckman (DECEMBER 6, 2017). https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-happens-when-sex-harassment-disrupts-victims-academic-careers/
- “Former Grad Students: Our Professors Raped Us.” By Vanessa Rancaño (Dec 7, 2017). https://www.kqed.org/news/11633019/years-later-women-find-their-voice-to-speak-out-against-sexual-misconduct-by-professors
- “‘Fairly Normal and Routine’: 50 Years of Sexual Violence at Stanford.” By RUAIRÍ ARRIETA-KENNA & ROXY BONAFONT (JANUARY 31, 2018). https://stanfordpolitics.org/2018/01/31/sexual-violence-cover-story/
- “Provost, General Counsel offer personal contributions to anti-sexual assault organization after Stanford denies Fliegelman victim’s request for donation.” By Alex Tsai (Feb. 26, 2018, 12:20 a.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/26/provost-general-counsel-offer-personal-contributions-to-anti-sexual-assault-organization-after-stanford-denies-fliegelman-victims-request-for-donation/
- “After ‘A Refuge for Jae-in Doe’: A Social Media Chronology.” By Seo-Young Chu (March 15, 2018). https://asapjournal.com/after-a-refuge-for-jae-in-doe-a-social-media-chronology/
- “Academia’s #MeToo moment: ‘I’m really struck by how endemic this is’: ‘There isn’t a day in my life when I haven’t been eaten away by it in some way.’” By Nick Anderson (May 10, 2018). https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/academias-metoo-moment-women-accuse-professors-of-sexual-misconduct/2018/05/10/474102de-2631-11e8-874b-d517e912f125_story.html
- “‘My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller’: How sexual harassment and assault distort scholars’ lives in the academy.” By Julia Schmalz (MAY 11, 2018). https://www.chronicle.com/article/my-professional-world-has-gotten-smaller/
- “Stanford One Year After #MeToo: How Stanford’s Response Failed Victims of Sexual Assault.” By KYLE WANG (JUNE 14, 2019). https://stanfordpolitics.org/2019/06/14/stanford-one-year-after-metoo-how-stanfords-response-failed-victims-of-sexual-assault/
- “How #MeToo Helped Seo-Young Chu Name Her Harasser — Testimonies New York Magazine” (Sep 29, 2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tVhymU3DcM&list=PLXQRPSEGHTBiFsePIdraK3KNHvXQ1iFaM&index=7
- “Was It Worth It?” By Irin Carmon and Amelia Schonbek Additional reporting by Sarah Jones (Sept. 30, 2019). https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/coming-forward-about-sexual-assault-and-what-comes-after.html
- “Title IX at Stanford: A timeline of recent events.” By Emma Talley, Kate Selig, Sarina Deb, Daniel Wu, Ujwal Srivastava, Lauryn Johnson, Anastasiia Malenko and Danielle Echeverria (June 9, 2020, 11:35 p.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2020/06/09/title-ix-at-stanford-a-timeline-of-recent-events/
- “Stanford removes library collection, brick honoring affiliates accused of sexual misconduct.” By Cameron Ehsan, Victoria Hsieh and Kathryn Zheng (July 9, 2021, 5:10 p.m.). https://stanforddaily.com/2021/07/09/stanford-removes-library-collection-brick/
- Seo-Young Chu on sexual violence at Stanford and Korean American # MeToo (March 3, 2022). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-NJRJNXRDU
- “‘Beef’ Star David Choe Told Story About Sexually Assaulting Someone In Resurfaced 2014 Clip.” By Elyse Wanshel. Apr 17, 2023.
- “Asian Americans are over just being included — they’re defining mainstream culture.” By Brahmjot Kaur and Angela Yang. May 12, 2023. «“With art, the stakes are always high. When I learned that David Choe had bragged about being a ‘successful rapist,’ I felt violently betrayed,” Chu said. “I feel more solidarity with survivors who were harmed by his words than with the show’s fans and supporters.”»
“A Refuge for Jae-in Doe” has been cited/discussed in/on/by (in alphabetical order—some are brief citations, others are lengthy discussions, and I’m still trying to figure out what counts as “press/media”)
- ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830, Fall 2020
- American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) The ASECS and the GCS changed the name of mentorship awards. “… On behalf of our Society, we accept this charge, and we thank Professor Chu and our colleagues for their eloquence and passion in urging us forward.“ – ASECS Board asecsgradcaucus.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/asecsexecutive-board-statement-on-harassment-and-abuse/amp/, 10 Nov. 2017
- https://asecsgradcaucus.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/statement/, 12 Nov. 2017
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GgKlsC7DvVLIwgzq-uK5Cbyuq1lAGvYgUiEKy_DTAZg/edit, 10 Nov. 2017
- ARIEL (article by Robert Warrior), 2020
- Asian American Writers’ Workshop https://aaww.org/keeping-tabs-out-of-the-darkness/, 10 Nov. 2017
- https://www.clubfreetime.com/new-york-city-nyc/free-discussion/2021-07- 12/event/519013, 12 Jul. 2021
- Chicago Review, 28 Jan 2022
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
- https://www.chronicle.com/article/sexual-harassment-and-assault-in-higher-ed-whats-happened-since-weinstein/, 13 Nov. 2017
- https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-happens-when-sex-harassment-disrupts-victims-academic-careers/, 6 Dec. 2017
- https://www.chronicle.com/article/2-Women-Say-Stanford/241749, 11 Nov. 2017
- https://www.chronicle.com/article/My-Professional-World-Has/243377, 11 May 2018
- Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity at the University of Hong Kong
- Cornell University “Proceedings of the Consensual Relationship Policy Committee,” 1 May 2018
- The Daily Beast, 1 Mar. 2018
- Early American Literature: Hutchins, Zach. “The ‘Raping Numbers’ of Bradstreet’s Admirers.” Early American Literature. Vol. 55, No. 3 (2020), pp. 623-650. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26973803 “The dehumanizing effect of their Petrarchan verse, which objectifies women and converts them into silent, absent, unknowable figures, was recently described to early Americanist readers by Seo- Young Chu, who recounts her rape at the hands of an academic adviser in the moving work of creative nonfiction “A Refuge for Jae- In Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major.”7 Chu insists that “the sonnet was a site of sexual violence. Male poets were rewarded for celebrating the women they hunted.” And in lines that echo Bradstreet’s own characterization of herself as a female deer, Chu writes of herself in the terms of Petrarchan metaphor: Doe: a deer, a female deer— Often chased by sonneteers of old. Caught, and killed, and bathed in fear, Turned to human blazons to be sold— (Chu) Like Chu, Bradstreet understood Petrarchan verse as a form of linguistic violence, and her experiments with the sonnet challenge its conventions to legitimize the desires, bodily presence, and subjectivity of women.8 In their formal innovations on the sonnet tradition, Chu and Bradstreet found a means of contesting poetic power structures authorizing the harassment and dehumanization of women.”
- Frances Kai-Hwa Wang: Resources, 17 May 2022
- Harvard Journal of Law and Gender,
- Improving Campus Climate, University of Minnesota, 14 Dec. 2017
- Inside Higher Ed. 9 Mpv/ 2017, 9 Nov. 2017
- Journal of Asian American Studies
- https://poets.org/event/wetoo, 12 Jul 2021
- KQED, 7 Dec. 2017 “… Fliegelman was suspended for two years, …. Then he went back to teaching at Stanford. He was later honored multiple times — at … “Jayfest” … when the university acquired his rare book collection, … The university also named an award in his honor, … In 2016, the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies also named a mentorship award after Fliegelman. The society renamed it after hearing from Chu…”
- The Literary Hub, 18 Apr. 2022. “The Impossible, Crucial Task of Teaching About Rape as a Survivor” by Emily Van Duyne. “Chu turned to the sonnet to describe her experience of being first stalked, then transformed from a human woman into an object. Like others before her—Anne Boleyn, Shakespeare’s “Dark Lady”—she transforms, in the course of the sonnet, from a human into a literary device, a blazon: a body stripped of its parts, to be cataloged as a series of rare and beautiful objects”
- Longreads
- The Margins (AAWW)
- The Mercury News, 1 Dec. 2017 “… But this month, after an explosive series of revelations in an online publication and on Facebook, his legacy — and an elite university’s role in promoting it — has been tumbled upside down, exposing a dark underside of how powerful faculty at private institutions can escape public scorn…“
- Ms. Magazine, 16 Mar. 2018
- Neon Books, 3 Sep. 2018 “… One of the paradoxes of trauma is that it usually begins after a person is out of immediate danger. Like an echo, harm may take time to reach us.“
- New Chaucer Studies: Pedagogy and Profession, Autumn 2021
- New York Magazine https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/coming-forward-about-sexual-assault-and-what-comes-after, 30 Sep.2019
- Video (separate from the article), 30 Sep. 2019
- The New Republic, 30 Nov. 2017
- PopMatters, 7 Jan. 2019. A review of The America’s Best Nonrequired Reading. “… It’s incredibly hard to take but impossible to ignore and in keeping with the inconsistencies of the series title, this entry is definitely required reading.”
- Rape Culture and Female Resistance in Late Medieval Literature
- Society of Early Americanists, 10 Nov. 2017
- Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club (SAPAAC) Board, 22 Nov. 2017
- https://stanforddaily.com/2017/12/02/behind-the-fliegelman-sexual-misconduct-investigation/, 2 Dec. 2017
- https://stanforddaily.com/2017/12/05/an-open-letter-to-stanford-on-sexual harassment-in-academia/, 5 Dec. 2017
- https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/18/facing-criticism-for-victim-blaming-stanford-revises-sexual-harassment-guidelines-webpage-but-criticism-persists/, 18 May 2017
- https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/26/provost-general-counsel-offer-personal-contributions-to-anti-sexual-assault-organization-after-stanford-denies-fliegelman-victims-request-for-donation/, 26 Feb. 2017
- https://stanforddaily.com/2018/10/09/public-letter-in-support-of-ford-gains-over-1000-signatures/, 9 Oct. 2018
- https://stanforddaily.com/2021/07/09/stanford-removes-library-collection-brick/, 9 Jul. 2019 “…Stanford on Tuesday moved to strip the name of deceased English professor Jay Fliegelman Ph.D. ’77, who was accused of sexual assault, from his namesake library collection. The renaming was prompted by four years of advocacy from alumni and law professor Michele Dauber… Former graduate student Seo-Young Chu M.A. ’01 said she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Fliegelman, her dissertation advisor, while studying at Stanford….“
- Stanford Politics, 3 Dec. 2017
- https://stanfordpolitics.org/2019/06/14/stanford-one-year-after-metoo-how-stanfords-response-failed-victims-of-sexual-assault/
- https://stanfordpolitics.org/2017/12/03/jay-fliegelman-sexual-misconduct/
- https://stanfordpolitics.org/2017/11/22/open-letter-alumni-stanford-not-in-our-name/
- https://stanfordpolitics.org/2018/01/31/sexual-violence-cover-story/ “the resulting sanction was even said to be the university’s most serious punishment to date, though it wasn’t made public at the time. Stanford suspended English professor Jay Fliegelman and banned him from the department for two years, but few other than the faculty and students who were close to him seemed to know or care why. His graduate student advisee, Seo-Young Chu, had formally accused him of rape. The matter was handled quietly, and the university ultimately behaved as if the rape had never happened, allowing Fliegelman to continue to meet with students during his suspension. After he died in 2007, a glowing memorial resolution was published the next year which described a triumphant career and offered no mention of his censure, let alone the accusation against him. Chu’s memory wasn’t quite so short. In 2017, she published a widely-discussed creative nonfiction piece on the blog Entropy relating her experiences and finally making Fliegelman’s behavior public knowledge. At her request, Stanford also finally published a summary of their 2000 investigation. But for 17 years, that story went untold. The secrecy with which the Fliegelman case was handled raises the question of how many more sexual assault allegations have been adjudicated behind closed doors. How those proceedings operate has been an ongoing source of controversy at Stanford.”
- Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, Spring 2018
- Washington University Law Review (Vol. 96, Issue 5), 2019
- Wendy Beth Hyman. “Shakespeare and Metamorphosis.” https://shakespeareassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ENG-CMPL-304-syllabus-SP-2021.pdf
SERVICE to the Academic Profession, New York/Queens Community, Survivors of Sexual Violence, and Beyond
- Service at Queens College, CUNY
- Asian American Community Studies Minor Affiliated Faculty, 2024
- Asian American Community Studies Minor Advisory Board, 2023
- Queens Campus Action Team (QCAT), PSC CUNY, 2022-
- Member of Honors Committee, 2015- .
- Social Media team, the Queens College chapter of CUNY’s union, PSC-CUNY, 2022-
- English Department Representative, Annual Undergraduate Open House, fall and spring 2019
- Member of Curriculum Committee, 2014- 2015? (Double check).
- Member of Assessment Committee, 2013- 2014?.
- Coordinator. English Department Honors Conference. “BIATO: Beauty, Its Opposite, and Their Others,” 4 May 2016.
- English Department Representative, Freshman Reception, 27 Apr. 2014.
- English Department Representative, Annual Undergraduate Open House, 3 Nov. 2013.
- Member of Publicity/Publications Committee, 2010-2011.
- Member of Honors Committee , 2010-2012.
- Member of Committee on New Faculty, 2009-2011.
- Member of Syllabus Committee, 2009-2010.
- Member of Committee on Special Occasions, 2009-2010.
- Service at Harvard University
- Adviser, Board of Freshman Advisers , 2007-2008, 2008-2009.
- Examiner, Practice General Exams, Department of English and American Literature and Language, 9 Sept. 2005.
- Coordinator, ”Addressing Dialogue: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference,” 8-9 Apr. 2004.
- Other Professional Service
- Mentor, #MeTooAcademia. 2017-
- Volunteer, Elis For Rachael: Yale Mental Health Policy Reform. 2022-2023
- Editorial Assistant, A New Literary History of America. Eds. Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, Cambridge: Harvard UP, Sept. 2009.
- Panel Organizer, ”The Place of Music in Science Fiction and Fantasy.” MLA Annual Convention. Philadelphia, PA, 29 Dec. 2006.
- Member of Executive Committee, 2003-2007; Chair, 2006; Secretary, 2005. MLA Discussion Group on Science Fiction and Utopian and Fantastic Literature.
SELECTED HONORS
- Dean’s Research Enhancement Grant for “Science-Fictional North Korea,” Queens College, CUNY, 2014.
- PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Award (Tradition B),” The Geomantic Significance of the Korean DMZ ,” Funding for travel and research in Korea, 2011.
- PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Award, “Science-Fictional North Korea,” 2010.
- Graduate Society Fellowship for Dissertation Completion, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) , Harvard University, 2006-2007.
- Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2006.
- Merit Fellowship for Dissertation Research. GSAS, Harvard University, 2005-2006.
- Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. Harvard University, 2004.
- Fall Research Grant. Graduate Student Council, Harvard University, 2004.
- Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. Harvard University, 2003.
- Smith Memorial Prize for essay, “The Fourth Dimension of Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass,” Stanford University, 2000.
- Herson Prize for outstanding work in the English major, Yale University, 1999.
- McLaughlin Scholarship for excellence in composition and the study of English literature, Yale University, 1998.
- Curtis Prize for literary or rhetorical work in the junior year, Yale University, 1998.
- Riggs Prize for distinguished work in the Directed Studies Program, Yale University, 1996.