Gil-Soo Han

I was educated in Korea, India and Australia. I taught at the University of New England and the Monash University School of Rural Health. I joined the School in January 2008, after completing my term as Head of Arts at the Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia.

My disciplinary training is sociological, but I greatly appreciate anthropological and historical insights in my teaching and research. Throughout my academic career, my research “subjects”/participants have been from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people; or the disadvantaged, such as immigrants, overseas trained professionals, and rural population. In my research into these populations, there have been 3 key sources of evidence for analysis. They are: (1) the study of participants' experiences; (2) how they represent themselves in, or how they are represented by, the media; and (3) how their life is enabled and restrained by socio-cultural/economic factors. This is reflected in my research publications where ethnic, local and national media representations are critical sources of empirical data.

Joining Monash Communications & Media Studies in 2008, I have continued my sociological insights and extended to the study of Communications & Media. I have well embraced the very broad definition of Communication which regards human relations and interactions as the product of how humans (un)successfully communicate with each other. For example, how immigrants are well integrated is a matter of how the host society and immigrants are willing to or (un)successfully communicate with each other. The major publications along this line include “Korean Diaspora and Media in Australia: In search of identities” (2012), “Nouveau-rich Nationalism and Multiculturalism in Korea” (2016) and “Minorities and Media in Australia: Producers, Industries, Audiences” (Co-Ed 2017).

My research impact and contributions beyond Communications & Media research, prior to and post 2008, is international and cumulative. I have been an invited panel speaker at national and international conferences. Of equal importance is my engagement with the Korean community in Australia where I am often invited to deliver lectures to the Korean community in Australia, speaking on topics of interest to the public, teachers, future leaders, the clergy etc.

I have published 4 sole-authored, 1 co-authored & 1 co-edited books, over 70 peer reviewed book chapters/journal articles. Several journal articles were invited contributions. Since 2012, I have developed my special interest about funerals and memorialisation going through changes in Korea and Australia. I have recently published a paper, “Funeral capitalism” in Korean Studies (Univ of Hawaii). I am currently working on “Funeral Rites in Contemporary Korea; The Business of Death” (Contracted with Springer, to be published in 2019).

PhD (University of New England), MA, Hons (University of New England), MA Soc (Jawaharlal Nehru University), BA (Sungkyul University)