Dafna Zur
Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and, by courtesy, of Comparative Literature
Bio
Dafna Zur is an Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University. She teaches courses on Korean literature, cinema, and popular culture. Her book, Figuring Korean Futures: Children’s Literature in Modern Korea (Stanford University Press, 2017), traces the affective investments and coded aspirations made possible by children’s literature in colonial and postcolonial Korea. She is working on a new project on moral education in science and literary youth magazines in postwar North and South Korea. She has published articles on North Korean science fiction, the Korean War in North and South Korean children’s literature, childhood in cinema, and Korean popular culture. Her translations of Korean fiction have appeared in wordwithoutborders.org, The Columbia Anthology of Modern Korean Short Stories, and the Asia Literary Review.
Academic Appointments
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Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures
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Associate Professor (By courtesy), Comparative Literature
Administrative Appointments
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Director, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford (2019 - 2025)
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Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Cutures (2017 - Present)
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Faculty Fellow, Stanford Ethics (2013 - 2014)
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Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University (2012 - Present)
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Lecturer, Department of Korean Literature, Keimyung University (2011 - 2012)
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Language fellowship, Korea Foundation (1998 - 1999)
Honors & Awards
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Graduate Studies Fellowship, Korea Foundation (2009 - 2010)
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Outstanding Paper, Worldwide Consortium for Korean Studies, Hawai’i (2009)
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Graduate studies scholarship, Korea Foundation (2006 - 2007)
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Florence Tan Moesen Fellow, Library of Congress (2006)
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Graduate studies scholarship, Korea Foundation (2005 - 2006)
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35th Korea Times Translation Award, First Place, Korea Times (2004)
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New Translator Award, First Prize, Korean Literature Translation Institute (KLTI) (2004)
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Translation Fellowship, ICF (2002 - 2004)
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University Graduate Fellowship, UBC (2002 - 2004)
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Graduate studies scholarship, Korea Foundation (2001 - 2002)
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Language scholarship, KLI, Yonsei University (1994)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Member, Luce Scholars Program Fellowship Selection Committee (2013 - Present)
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Stanford Pre-major Advising, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
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Reviewer, Seoul Journal of Korean Studies
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Reviewer, Journal of Korean Studies
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Reviewer, Acta Koreana
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Reviewer, Cornell UP
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Graduate fellowships committee, AY 13-14 fellowships, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
Program Affiliations
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Center for East Asian Studies
Professional Education
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B.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Asian Studies and General Studies (1998)
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M.A., The University of British Columbia, Asian Studies (2002)
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Ph.D., The University of British Columbia, Asian Studies (2011)
2024-25 Courses
- Kangnam Style: K-pop and the Globalization of Korean Soft Power
KOREA 101N (Aut) - Narratives of Modern and Contemporary Korea
COMPLIT 222, KOREA 120, KOREA 220 (Aut) -
Independent Studies (9)
- Graduate Directed Reading
EASTASN 300 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Graduate Independent Study
MTL 398 (Win, Spr) - Individual Studies in East Asian Languages and Cultures (Graduate)
EALC 200 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Individual Studies in East Asian Languages and Cultures (Undergraduate)
EALC 199 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Master's Thesis or Qualifying Paper
EALC 299 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Reading for Orals
MTL 399 (Win, Spr) - Senior Research (Capstone Essay)
EALC 198C (Aut, Win, Spr) - Senior Research (Honors Thesis)
EALC 198H (Aut, Win, Spr) - Senior Thesis
INTNLREL 198 (Aut)
- Graduate Directed Reading
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Core Seminar: Debates and Methods in East Asian Studies
EASTASN 330 (Aut) - Kangnam Style: South Korea's Soft Power Empire
OSPGEN 21 (Sum) - Proseminar in East Asian Humanities I: Skills and Methodologies
EALC 201 (Aut) - Senior Colloquium
EALC 198 (Win) - The Nature of Knowledge: Science and Literature in East Asia
CHINA 151B, CHINA 251B, JAPAN 151B, JAPAN 251B, KOREA 151, KOREA 251 (Win)
2022-23 Courses
- Core Seminar: Debates and Methods in East Asian Studies
EASTASN 330 (Aut) - From Colonialism to K-pop: Race and Gender in South Korean Culture
COMPLIT 111K, CSRE 111A, FEMGEN 111A, KOREA 111, KOREA 222 (Win) - Kangnam Style: South Korea's Soft Power Empire
OSPGEN 21 (Sum) - Korean Studies Pedagogy
KOREA 301 (Aut) - Proseminar in East Asian Humanities I: Skills and Methodologies
EALC 201 (Aut) - Senior Colloquium
EALC 198 (Win)
2021-22 Courses
- Core Seminar: Debates and Methods in East Asian Studies
EASTASN 330 (Aut) - Narratives of Modern and Contemporary Korea
COMPLIT 222, KOREA 120, KOREA 220 (Win) - North Korea in a Historical and Cultural Perspective
HISTORY 290, HISTORY 390, KOREA 190X, KOREA 290X (Win) - Proseminar in East Asian Humanities I: Skills and Methodologies
EALC 201 (Aut) - Senior Colloquium
EALC 198 (Win)
- Core Seminar: Debates and Methods in East Asian Studies
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Yan Chang, Alek Sigley, Lin Meng Walsh -
Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor
Bendi Tso, Yunxiao Xiao -
Orals Evaluator
Alek Sigley -
Master's Program Advisor
Tim Im, Jill Lyu, Yiguo Zheng
All Publications
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North Korea?s Translation of Anne Frank and the Politics of Self-Writing
AJS REVIEW-THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES
2023; 47 (1): 149-175
View details for DOI 10.1353/ajs.2023.0006
View details for Web of Science ID 000989997900007
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When Songs Don't Work: Western Tonalities and Korean Breath in Children's Songs of the Colonial Period
KOREAN STUDIES
2022; 46: 8-42
View details for DOI 10.1353/ks.2022.0002
View details for Web of Science ID 000932018400003
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Science and Literature in Korea: An Introduction
JOURNAL OF KOREAN STUDIES
2018; 23 (2): 213–22
View details for DOI 10.1215/21581665-6973266
View details for Web of Science ID 000448341100002
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Fantasy, the Final Frontier: Making Science Moral in Postwar North Korean Youth Culture
JOURNAL OF KOREAN STUDIES
2018; 23 (2): 275–98
View details for DOI 10.1215/21581665-6973308
View details for Web of Science ID 000448341100005
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Writing the Real: Modernism in Korean Literature
Modernism/Modernity
2018; 24 (2): 407-414
View details for DOI 10.1353/mod.2018.0025
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You Can't Write "Pak" on Television: Language as Power in Hebrew K-pop Fandom
Telos
2018; 184 (Fall 2018): 139-162
View details for DOI 10.3817/0918184139
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MODERN KOREAN LITERATURE AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN A PRE- AND POST-COLONIAL DIGITAL AGE
ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF KOREAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY
2017: 193–205
View details for Web of Science ID 000445883100013
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Figuring Korean Futures Children’s Literature in Modern Korea
Stanford University Press. 2017
View details for DOI 10.11126/stanford/9781503601680.001.0001
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Landscape of the heart in Homeless Angels and Hometown of the Heart
Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema
2015; 7 (1): 10-27
View details for DOI 10.1080/17564905
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Let's Go to the Moon: Science Fiction in the North Korean Children's Magazine Adong Munhak, 1956-1965
JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES
2014; 73 (2): 327-351
View details for DOI 10.1017/S0021911813002404
View details for Web of Science ID 000337743200007
- “They are still eating well, and living well”: The Grimms’ Tales in Early Colonial Korea Grimms' Tales around the Globe: The Dynamics of Their International Reception Michigan: Wayne State UP. 2014
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Whose War Were We Fighting? Constructing Memory and Managing Trauma in South Korean Children's Fiction
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH IN CHILDRENS LITERATURE
2009; 2 (2): 192-209
View details for DOI 10.3366/E1755619809000696
View details for Web of Science ID 000208106700004
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Introduction to the Special Section Music That Moves: Sonic Narratives in Modern Korea
KOREAN STUDIES
2022; 46: 1-7
View details for Web of Science ID 000932018400002
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Rewriting Revolution: Women, Sexuality, and Memory in North Korean Fiction (Book Review)
ACTA KOREANA
2019; 22 (2): 399–403
View details for Web of Science ID 000572429100012
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ECOAMBIGUITY: Environmental Crises and East Asian Literatures (Book Review)
PACIFIC AFFAIRS
2013; 86 (4): 888-889
View details for Web of Science ID 000327568600013
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Literature and Film in Cold War South Korea. (Book Review)
ACTA KOREANA
2013; 16 (1): 269-272
View details for Web of Science ID 000335968700017
- Off to the Battle at Dawn edited by Zur, D., Son-jae, A. Seoul: Asia Publishers. 2013
- Ice Cream The Asia Literary Review 2012; 23
- The Sky Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture edited by Zur, D., McCann, D. Harvard University Press. 2012
- Children’s Literature in Late Colonial Korea Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture 2012; 5: 347-353
- The Korean War in Children’s Picturebooks of the DPRK Exploring North Korean Arts Nuremberg: Verlag für moderne Kunst. 2011: 276–298
- The Pager Waxen Wings: The Acta Koreana Anthology of Short Fiction From Korea edited by Zur, D., Fulton, B. St.Paul: Koryo Press. 2011: 143–160
- Representations of the Korean War in North and South Korean Children’s Literature Korea 2010: Politics, Economy, Society 2010: 271–300
- The Toad Groom: Folk Tales from Old Korea edited by Zur, D. Bo-Leaf Press (USA). 2008
- Human Decency Acta Koreana 2008; 11 (3): 235-239
- Reading Korea: An Anthology of Modern Korean Literature edited by Zur, D. Anvil Press (Philippians). 2008
- This Tree of Yours Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture edited by Zur, D., McCann, D. Harvard University Press. 2007: 9–36
- Their Last Visitor Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture edited by Zur, D., McCann, D. Harvard University Press. 2007: 9–36
- The Man Who Sold His Shadow Korean Literature Today 2005: 102-124
- Travel Across Time: Modern ‘Rewrites’ of Pak Chiwǒn’s Yǒrha Ilgi Acta Koreana 2005; 8 (2): 49-64
- Lizard Columbia Anthology of Modern Korean Short Stories edited by Zur, D. Columbia University Press. 2005: 371–382