Seohyung Kim - MS Thesis Defense Announcement Not Catastrophic but Quotidian: How Particulate Matter Becomes a Matter in South Korea Major Professor: Dr. Zoe Nyssa Wednesday, May 17th at 10:00 AM Zoom<https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/92474024703?pwd=VlltTXNYSWdZRjlpaVhyQjUxY3JzUT09> Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Department of Anthropology Abstract: Particle pollution in South Korea has become a matter of such public concern that it was declared a "social disaster" by government proclamation in 2019. My thesis research shows how present interventions to tackle particle pollution in South Korea as a "social disaster" that required expansive monitoring technology infrastructure, is paradoxically contributing to maintaining the status quo. This study explores how particle pollution has been naturalized and justified anthropogenic pollution through close ethnographic attention to peoples' lived experiences, discourse, and data surrounding particle pollution by mapping citizen-based knowledge systems in the linking of anthropological, public health, and environmental sciences perspectives. Based on four months of fieldwork, interviews, and collaborative work with residents, scientists, and activists in South Korea, this thesis offers a new understanding of how citizens' experiences and knowledge practices have reshaped the concepts of pollution, toxicity, and health. Drawing on scholarship in feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS), medical and environmental anthropology, this study problematizes harm reduction-based environmental and health intervention practices by describing the current individualized particle pollution responses. The research reveals how people in Korea living with/in particulate matter have perceived, datafied, defined, adjusted, and responded to particle pollution and its toxicity. Everyone is welcome! Attached is the defense announcement. Amy Ledman She/Her/Hers Lead Graduate Program Specialist - Ecological Sciences and Engineering Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs - The Graduate School Ernest C. Young Hall, Rm B40 155 S. Grant St. West Lafayette, IN 47907 o: 765-494-5865 f: 765-496-6271 Schedule a meeting: calendly.com/aledman<https://calendly.com/aledman> [cid:image001.png@01D8979D.720E7780]<https://www.purdue.edu/?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=purdue>
