Junghyun Nam

Adjunct Faculty

democracy, political sociology, cultural sociology, social movements, sociology of emotion, and social relations and spatial structures

Junghyun Nam is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University, where she received her Ph.D. in August 2025. Her research focuses on democracy, political sociology, cultural sociology, social movements, the sociology of emotion, and social relations and spatial structures. Drawing on South Korea’s 2016–2017 Candlelight Protests as a case study, her dissertation explores how prodemocracy protest movements construct a normative actor-action system that regulates protesters’ behavior, emotional expression, and relationships with the various actors involved in protest events, with particular attention to mobilization, collective identity formation, and protester-police relations. She primarily uses qualitative methods, with a regional focus on South Korea and East Asia.

Contact: jnam5@gmu.edu

CV: NAM_Junghyun_CV

Current Research

Junghyun is currently revising her dissertation into a book manuscript, tentatively titled Suppressed Contention: Peaceful Repertoires and the Boundaries of Participation in South Korea’s Candlelight Protests. Her ongoing research also examines tactical choice through a relational approach and the repertoire of repression. As a research affiliate at the Movement Engaged Hub in the Center for Social Science Research, she also examines data center development and community resistance.

Selected Publications

Nam, Junghyun. Forthcoming in 2026. “Police as Allies: Protester Perceptions and Cooperation in South Korea’s Candlelight Protests, 2016–2017.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly.

Grants and Fellowships

2025 Student Travel Grant, Korean and Korean American Sociologists Community of American Sociological Association

2025 ASA Student Forum Travel Fund, American Sociological Association

2025 Dissertation Completion Grant, George Mason University

2024 Summer Doctoral Fellowship, Center for Humanities Research, George Mason University

2022-2024 Doctoral Research Scholars Award, George Mason University

2022 Summer Research Fellowship, George Mason University

2022 Dissertation Research Fellowship, Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
George Mason University

2021 IFKU Scholarship, International Foundation for Korea University

Courses Taught

SOCI 101 Introductory Sociology (Spring 2026; Fall 2025)

SOCI 120 Globalization and Society (Spring 2025; Spring 2024; Spring and Fall 2023)

Education

Ph.D. in Sociology, George Mason University (2025)

M.A. in Linguistics (specialization: semiotics), Korea University (2014)

B.A. in Linguistics, Korea University (2012)

Recent Presentations

Nam, Junghyun. 2026. “Boundaries Redrawn?: Inclusion and Marginalization in South Korea’s Mass Protests in 2016–2017 and 2024–2025.” Panel Session. Association for Asian Studies, Vancouver, Canada, March 14.

Nam, Junghyun. 2026. “When Civility Defines Nonviolent Resistance: The Cultural Meanings of Peaceful Tactics and Production of Internal Boundaries in South Korea’s Candlelight Protests.” Eastern Sociological Society, Washington, D.C., March 6.

Nam, Junghyun. 2025. “When Civility Meets Resistance.” Design Korea Research Hub Workshop. Supported by Academy of Korean Studies and Asia Research Institute at the University at Buffalo. Zoom, December 8.

Nam, Junghyun. 2025. Presenter and Table Presider. “Territorial Pacification: Police as Allies and Dual Responses to Police Repression.” Round Table Session. American Sociological Association Conference, Chicago, IL, August 9.

Nam, Junghyun. 2025. Invited Discussant. “[Joint Forum] The Cultural Politics of the Square,” co-organized by BK21 Korean Language and Literature Education Research Group at Sungkyunkwan University, Global Cultural Contents Interdisciplinary Program at Sungkyunkwan University, Editorial Board of <Culture/Science>, Institute for Cultural Studies, Cultural Action Network, Humanities Cooperative Association, and Contemporary Political Philosophy Research Association. Seoul, South Korea, March 7.

Nam, Junghyun. 2025. “Territorial Pacification: Police as Allies and Dual Responses to Police Repression.” Eastern Sociological Society Conference, Boston, MA, March 6.

Nam, Junghyun. 2024. "We are the Square: Formation of Place-Based Collective Identity in the South Korean Candlelight Protests." Round Table Session. American Sociological Association Conference, Montreal, Canada, August 13.

Nam, Junghyun. 2024. "Territorial Pacification: Self-Disciplining Protest from within the South Korean Candlelight Protests." Mobilization Conference, San Diego, CA, July 9.

Nam, Junghyun. 2024. “Spatial Formation of Collective Identity in Mass Protest.” Eastern Sociological Society Conference, Washington, D.C., February 29th.

Nam, Junghyun. 2023. “Goal-based Solidarity: the Internal Structure of Political Solidarity and its Impact on its Duration.” The Pacific Sociological Association Conference, Seattle, WA, March 31.

Nam, Junghyun. 2023. “Emotions in Motion: the Role of Emotions in the Mobilization and Sustainment of Mass Protest.” Korean Studies Young Scholars Graduate Conference, The James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, March 3.

Nam, Junghyun. 2023. “Emotion in Motion: the Role of Emotions in the Candlelight Protests.” Eastern Sociological Society Conference, Baltimore, MD, February 24.

Nam, Junghyun and Dae Young Kim. 2021. "The K-pop Fans' Sense of Community and Attributive Factors." The Korean Wave in North America conference, George Mason University. Fairfax, VA, January 15.