PhD student Inyoung Jang has been awarded the Jeffrey S. Tanaka Grant for Asian American Studies for her project, "Semi-Basement Housing as Cold War Infrastructure: State Violence and the Legacies of American and Asian Imperialism and Colonialism in South Korea." The grant provides up to $1,000 for direct research expenses, including travel and material purchases.
Jang's project centers on the examination of how colonial and imperial legacies continue to shape urban landscapes and marginalize vulnerable populations. The impetus for her research was a tragic incident that occurred on August 8, 2022, when severe flooding in Seoul led to the deaths of four individuals who were trapped in semi-basement housing.
"I was deeply shocked, as I had also lived in semi-basement housing, and the tragedy felt intensely personal and close to home," Jang shared.
Originally constructed in the 1960s and 70s as military shelters during the Cold War, these units were later repurposed as low-cost housing amid South Korea's rapid urbanization. Jang began to question how such precarious spaces, never intended for habitation, became normalized living environments for marginalized communities.
"This led me to investigate the deeper historical and geopolitical roots of these infrastructures," she said. "I came to understand semi-basement housing not simply as a product of urban development, but as a legacy of Cold War militarization, shaped by overlapping forces of American and Asian imperialism, colonialism, and South Korea's authoritarianism."
Jang's research explores how technologies and power dynamics (re)construct urban infrastructures in East Asia, contextualized within a transnational genealogy of imperialism and colonialism. She draws on frameworks from critical data studies, science and technology studies, institutional analysis, Asian American studies, and decolonial methods. Jang serves as a graduate research assistant for the Community Data Clinic. She earned her bachelor’s degree in visual communication design and media information communication from Handong Global University and her master’s degree in communication from Seoul National University.