Sooah Kwak Welcome! This website is best viewed on desktop.

Hello! I am Sooah Kwak (she/they), a researcher in anthropology, museum professional, and multimedia artist based between Seoul, New York, and Philly.

I am a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. My research traces how power settles into bodies and landscapes, unevenly shaping both human and non-human life through material and symbolic manifestations. Most recently, I have followed waste as it travels across the two Koreas and broader circuits of East Asia.

The theoretical arc of my work builds on my academic training alongside professional experience in museums. I hold an MA in Museum Anthropology from Columbia University and dual undergraduate degrees—a BAS in Art and Technology and a BA in STS—from Sogang University. Previously, I assisted research at the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History.

My creative projects, exhibited across Korea, the UK, and the US, weave together new media with my academic research. In a past life, I worked on humanities-centered AI at both a research lab and a startup.

Contact ｡.｡･*

sooahk [at] sas [dot] upenn [dot] edu

academic profile

bluesky

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