Ji-Song (Robert) Ku
Associate Professor
Department of Asian and Asian American Studies
Background
Robert Ku’s research and teaching interests include Asian American studies, food studies, and transnational and diasporic Korean popular culture. Prior to Binghamton, he chaired the Department of Ethnic Studies at California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo and taught in the Department of English and directed the Asian American Studies Program at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Dubious Gastronomy: Eating Asian in the USA (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2014) and co-editor of Eating Asian America: A Food Studies Reader (New York University Press, 2013). He is also co-editor of the Food in Asia and the Pacific series for the University of Hawai‘i Press. His co-edited volume, Pop Empires: Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019), that juxtaposes the popular culture regimes of Korea, India, and the United States, was published in 2019. Born in Korea, he grew up in Hawai‘i and lived in Southern California and New York City before moving to Binghamton.
Education
- PhD, Graduate Center of the City University of New York
- MA, New York University
- BA, Loma Linda University
Research Interests
- Asian American literature and culture
- Asian diasporas
- cultural politics of food
Awards
- Fulbright Scholars Award; Sogang University
- Best Adult Non-Fiction Award Winner; the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association for Dubious Gastronomy; 2014
