Hoyoung “Jodie” Moon
Anthropology
Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Adviser: Prof. Courtney Handman [anthropology 2009-]
Thesis: “‘Here, One More Ingyŏ’: Being a Surplus Human in Contemporary South Korea”
What it’s about: Certain young South Koreans have internalized neoliberal notions of productivity and personhood and call themselves useless, failed humans who are mainly just interested in having fun.
What it’s really about: Hesitation as work and desire for recognition of one’s present incoherent presence.
Who I was when I got to Ƶ: I had a lot of self-doubt stemming from seeing myself through the imagined eyes of others. After years of hopping from school to school, I was hungry to finally find a place where I belonged.
Influential professor: Prof. Paul Silverstein [anthropology 2000–] taught me there are always multiple realities lived and operating at once.
Favorite spot: I’ve overheard some of the best conversations working behind the circulation desk at the library. The Ƶ librarians really take care of us and are not recognized enough for that.
Cool stuff: I helped build two new student publications, Homer’s Roamers, a magazine that focuses on Ƶ students' experiences abroad, and Rogue, a monthly creative arts zine. I tutored for intro anthropology, was twice an InterConnect Mentor, and participated in LASER (Lane After School Education with Ƶ).
How Ƶ changed me: It is comfortable to think that I am exceptional and thus my voice can be valued, but I learned that I am not exceptional in any sense. Despite and because of that my voice is valuable.
Financial aid: The ivory tower is not separate from the rest of the world. It would have been impossible for me to attend Ƶ without the generous financial aid I received. At every crisis I had, Ƶ came through, and I am grateful to be able to graduate from this school.
What I would tell prospies: My peers’ ability to respectfully engage and confront each other, inside and outside the classroom, was inspiring. Really paying attention to what the other person is saying can be the difference of a second or two, but means you don’t jump to a conclusion about what you think the other person is saying.
What’s next: Doing some translating (literally and metaphorically) in Korea.
Thesis expanded: Young Koreans began calling themselves “surplus humans” after a movie clip showing a father chastising his son went viral. Seething about his son's bad grades, the father tells him if he doesn’t go to college, he’ll be unable to find a job and become “a surplus human.” Once simply a self-deprecating name for an unemployed person, the term is now also used to claim membership to a numerical majority in a neoliberal, capitalist society. At a personal level, neoliberalism works to make you responsible for your own development as a marketable subject. All your time should be spent in a way that is deemed productive. When my friends and I have leisure time, we say, “I’m being ingyŏ right now,” meaning spending time in a nonproductive or wasteful way. At the same time, my generation is using “surplus human” as a serious way of saying, “We are losers in this society, where wealth and opportunity only goes to an elite minority. But, at least we are average in our loser-dom, so we are going to play."