Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Selects Kevin Y. Kim as Shorenstein APARC Predoctoral Fellow, 2009-2010

The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center is pleased to announce that Kevin Y. Kim has been awarded the Shorenstein APARC Predoctoral Fellowship for 2009-2010.

The Fellowship supports a Stanford University predoctoral student’s research within a broad range of topics related to the political economy of contemporary East Asia. Fellows whose main focus is Japan are called Takahashi Fellows, in honor of the Takahashi family, whose generous gift has made this fellowship possible. Fellows studying other regions are called Shorenstein APARC Fellows

Kevin Kim is a Ph.D. candidate in history at Stanford University. He specializes in 20th century U.S. foreign relations, with an emphasis on U.S.-Asia relations. He currently is completing a dissertation titled, “Forging the Free World: Korea, U.S. Leaders, and the World, 1948-1954.” This study examines the impact of the Korean War upon the evolution of U.S. national leaders’ foreign policy ideas on strategy, economy, race, and world politics. Influenced by “constructivist” approaches and traditional historical methods, his dissertation explores the Korean War period as a formative moment in the construction of contemporary U.S. liberal and conservative foreign policy beliefs.

Before entering graduate school, Kim was a Fulbright fellow in South Korea from 2001 to 2002, where he taught English in a Daejeon public middle school and studied Korean language and U.S.-Asia relations at various institutions. He also briefly pursued a career in journalism, and has written on culture, domestic politics, and international affairs for publications such as The Nation, The Progressive, Far Eastern Economic Review, South China Morning Post, and The Village Voice.

Kim received his M.A. in history from Stanford University and a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He was born and raised in the New York City metropolitan area.