Doctoral Student

Seungyun Lee is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Rutgers University, New Brunswick whose work explores the narrative and emotional dimensions of climate change. In her dissertation, Seungyun examines through participatory workshops, in-depth interviews, and narrative analysis the role of speculative story-reading and -telling in shaping how people emotionally engage with the climate crisis and collectively imagine alternative futures. Her broader interest, academic and pedagogical, is how narrative ethics might be used to promote radical solidarity and climate action against the backdrop of (neo)liberalism. Seungyun is committed to doing research rooted in public sociology, decolonization of knowledge, and climate justice.

Seungyun holds a BA (Hons) in Environmental Sociology and Medicine, Health, and Society from Vanderbilt University, as well as an MA in Sociology from Rutgers University. Her master’s thesis examined how national climate policy affects the average level of individuals’ climate anxiety in different countries. Seungyun is co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society, Second Edition.