Seo-Young Chu (Korean: 주서영; born February 14, 1978) is a queer Korean American scholar, feminist, poet, #MeToo activist, and associate professor of English at Queens College, CUNY.[1][2][3][4][5] She is the author of A Refuge for Jae-in Doe[6][7] and Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation.[8][9]
aesthetics, Asian American literature, autotheory, cognitively estranging referents, death, digital writing, disability, dreams, Englishes, the Korean DMZ, Emily Dickinson, globalization, the gothic, han, Korea, mental illness, poetry, Postmemory Han, rape culture, robots, science fiction, sexual violence, suicide, theory, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, trauma, the uncanny valley
In 2000, several months after surviving her first suicide attempt as a graduating senior at Yale, and shortly after starting a PhD program in the Department of English at Stanford University, Chu was sexually harassed and raped by the William Robertson Coe Professor in American Literature at Stanford University Jay Fliegelman, for whom she was working as a teaching assistant and research assistant.[38][39][40] Due to pressure from her parents to keep quiet, Chu never pressed charges and never hired a lawyer.[41] Nonetheless, the law required Stanford University to conduct an independent investigation that resulted in significant sanctions against Fliegelman, including suspension for two years without pay.[3][2] During his suspension from 2000 to 2002, Fliegelman was still granted access to students and university resources.[42] After his suspension, Stanford covered up both the abuse and the punishment by naming mentorship awards and a library[43] after Fliegelman.[44][41][45][46][47]
In 2017 Chu published "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe,"[53] in Entropy Magazine, in which Chu wrote about being abused at Stanford and living with posttraumatic stress.[54] The publication became part of the dialogue about #MeToo and #MeTooAcademia in particular.[54][55] "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe" was selected for inclusion in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018, Best American Experimental Writing 2020, and Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury Writer's Guides and Anthologies).[56] In 2021, Chu successfully campaigned for Stanford to remove Fliegelman's name from the Fliegelman Library of Association Copies, though what happened to the collection of expensive rare books, many of which were financed by Stanford University, and some of which Fliegelman used to molest Chu and others,[57][17][58] remains less than clear.[44][59][11][45][60]
^Chu, Seo-Young (2011-01-15). Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-05517-9.
^ abc"I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor". Asian American Writers' Workshop. 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ abChu, Seo-Young (2018-01-01). "The DMZ Responds". Publications and Research.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2021). "Imagining an Asian American Superhero of North Korean Origin: A Design Fiction". Humanities Commons.
^ abcChu, Seo-Young (2008). "Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature". MELUS. 33 (4): 97–121. doi:10.1093/melus/33.4.97. ISSN 0163-755X. JSTOR 20343509.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2015-04-17), "5. I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley", Techno-Orientalism, Rutgers University Press, pp. 76–88, doi:10.36019/9780813570655-007, ISBN 978-0-8135-7065-5, retrieved 2023-11-27
^ abChu, Seo-Young (2019-01-01). ""Free Indirect Suicide: An Unfinished Fugue in H Minor"". Publications and Research.
^ abcdefgh"From the Community | Dear Stanford: You must reckon with your history of sexual violence". 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Barrera, Magdalena L.; Lee, Shelley; Celine Parreñas Shimizu (2018-03-16). "Moving Forward by Looking Back: Feminist Scholars in Solidarity with Seo-Young Chu". Ms. Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ abcTong, Julia (2022-02-11). "Three graduate students sue Harvard, alleging sexual abuse from professor". AsAmNews. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ abc"Stanford students call for firing of professor Vincent Barletta". 2022-10-27. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ ab"Facing criticism for victim blaming, Stanford revises sexual harassment guidelines webpage, but criticism persists". 2020-05-18. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ abChu, Seo-Young. "Survivor-Shaped Specters and Gaps".
^ ab"Behind the Fliegelman sexual misconduct investigation". The Stanford Daily. 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
^ abChu, Seo-Young (2022-07-12). ""Dear Stanford: You must reckon with your history of sexual violence" by Seo-Young Chu". Publications and Research.
^Wang, Kyle (2019-06-14). "Stanford One Year After #MeToo: How Stanford's Response Failed Victims of Sexual Assault". Stanford Politics. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
^ ab"How #MeToo Helped Seo-Young Chu Name Her Harasser", Facebook, retrieved 2023-11-27[unreliable source?]
^ ab"Asian Americans are no longer pop culture sidekicks — they're defining the mainstream". NBC News. 2023-05-12. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2010). Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-05517-9.
^ ab"Essay about being raped by professor sparks call for public acknowledgment from Stanford and disciplinary society". www.insidehighered.com.
^Schmalz, Julia (May 11, 2018). "'My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller'" – via The Chronicle of Higher Education.
^"Stanford: Sexual misconduct revelation exposes storied professor's secret". East Bay Times. 2017-11-30. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ ab"Stanford removes library collection, brick honoring affiliates accused of sexual misconduct". 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ abc"I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor". Asian American Writers' Workshop. 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
^Seo-Young Chu - Yale College 1999, retrieved 2023-11-27
^Seo-Young Chu (November 29, 2018). "The DMZ Responds". Telos.
^"Beyond the Catastrophic Origins of the Korean DMZ" / "The Human Rights of a No-Man's Land", retrieved 2023-11-27
^"M'어머니 by Seo-Young Chu (KR 17, Spring 2017)". www.kartikareview.com.
^"After "A Refuge for Jae-in Doe": A Social Media Chronology* / Seo-Young Chu". 15 March 2018.
^"Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea". May 7, 2015 – via YouTube.
^Seo-Young Chu (Winter 2008). "Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature". MELUS. 33 (4): 97–121. doi:10.1093/melus/33.4.97. JSTOR 20343509.
^Chu, Seo-Young (October 2023). "Excerpts from an Anti-Standardized "수능": A Design-Fictional Approach to Korea". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 34 (2): 140–145.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2023-02-21). "I, Discomfort Woman: A Fugue in F Minor". Publications and Research.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2012). "Welcome to the Vegas Pyongyang". Science Fiction Studies. 39 (3): 376–377.
^ abcChu, Seo-Young (2019). ""Two Koreas, in the Key of Emily Dickinson," "Dream of the Ambassador, 12/21/2016," "The Lyric We," "A Prose Poem for 할머니" (poems). Newtown Literary, Issue 14, Spring/Summer 2019". Newtown Literary. 14: 78–82.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2020). "Tiny Art Museum for the Floater in My Eye". ASAP/Journal. 5 (3): 509–510. doi:10.1353/asa.2020.0025. ISSN 2381-4721. S2CID 226967530.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2015). ""I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley"". Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media: 76–88.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2009). "Dystopian Surface, Utopian Dream: Wittman Ah Sing foresees postethnic humanity". A New Literary History of America: 1020–1025.
^Chu, Seo-Young (Winter 1998). "Old Typewriter in a Field". The Yale Literary Magazine. 10.2: 12–12.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2020). ""Translator of Soliloquies: Fugues in the Key of Dissociation"". Black Warrior Review. 46 (2): 195–223.
^"11/20/2014 "Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics in North Korea"". Yale University. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Chu, Seo-Young (2015-05-07). "Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea". Humanities Commons.
^""Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea"". Yale University. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^"Franke Lectures to explore utopian literature". YaleNews. 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Chu, Seo-Young Jennie (2005). "Hypnotic Ratiocination". The Edgar Allan Poe Review. 6 (1): 5–19. ISSN 2150-0428. JSTOR 41506211.
^Seo-Young Chu (Fall 2020). "Dream Life of Waste: Archaeologies of the Soul in the Key of Capitalism". Nat. Brut. No. 13. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^"ctrl + v - seo-young chu". ctrlvjournal.com. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Doran, Harris (2021-04-22), I See You and You See Me (Biography, Drama, Comedy), Deirdre Lovejoy, Alana Raquel Bowers, Deborah S. Craig, Madison Square Films, Queens Theatre, retrieved 2023-11-27[unreliable source?]
^Cristi, A. A. "I SEE YOU AND YOU SEE ME Premieres Thursday at Queens Theatre". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
^Doran, Harris (2021-04-22), I See You and You See Me (Biography, Drama, Comedy), Deirdre Lovejoy, Alana Raquel Bowers, Deborah S. Craig, Madison Square Films, Queens Theatre, retrieved 2023-12-07
^"New stage and film project gives life to Queens' pandemic experience". Queens Daily Eagle. 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
^Heti, Sheila, ed. (2018-10-02). The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 (Illustrated ed.). Mariner Books. ISBN 978-1-328-46581-8.
^Abramson, Seth; Damiani, Jesse (2020-12-08). Machado, Carmen Maria; McSweeney, Joyelle (eds.). BAX 2020: Best American Experimental Writing. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0-8195-7958-4.
^Prentiss, Sean; Nelson, Jessica Hendry; Wilkins, Joe (2021-08-26). Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-06780-6.
^Tolentino, Jia (2019-11-06). "How "The Memory Police" Makes You See". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Foundation, Poetry (2023-11-27). "Authentic Fake by Mia You". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Carmon, Irin; Schonbek, Amelia (2019-09-30). "Coming Forward About Sexual Assault, and What Comes After". The Cut. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^"The Impossible, Crucial Task of Teaching About Rape as a Survivor". Literary Hub. 2022-04-18. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^Schmalz, Julia. "'My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller'".
^Mangan, Katherine (November 11, 2017). "2 Women Say Stanford Professors Raped Them Years Ago".
^"Here's What Sexual Harassment Looks Like in Higher Education".
^"Sexual Harassment and Assault in Higher Ed: What's Happened Since Weinstein".
^"What Happens When Sex Harassment Disrupts Victims' Academic Careers".
^"Provost, General Counsel offer personal contributions to anti-sexual assault organization after Stanford denies Fliegelman victim's request for donation". 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^"An open letter to Stanford on sexual harassment in academia". 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^"Behind the Fliegelman sexual misconduct investigation". 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2023-11-27.