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

  • Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures
  • Associate Professor (By courtesy), Comparative Literature

Administrative Appointments

  • Director, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford (2019 - 2025)
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Cutures (2017 - Present)
  • Faculty Fellow, Stanford Ethics (2013 - 2014)
  • Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University (2012 - Present)
  • Lecturer, Department of Korean Literature, Keimyung University (2011 - 2012)
  • Language fellowship, Korea Foundation (1998 - 1999)

Honors & Awards

  • Graduate Studies Fellowship, Korea Foundation (2009 - 2010)
  • Outstanding Paper, Worldwide Consortium for Korean Studies, Hawai’i (2009)
  • Graduate studies scholarship, Korea Foundation (2006 - 2007)
  • Florence Tan Moesen Fellow, Library of Congress (2006)
  • Graduate studies scholarship, Korea Foundation (2005 - 2006)
  • 35th Korea Times Translation Award, First Place, Korea Times (2004)
  • New Translator Award, First Prize, Korean Literature Translation Institute (KLTI) (2004)
  • Translation Fellowship, ICF (2002 - 2004)
  • University Graduate Fellowship, UBC (2002 - 2004)
  • Graduate studies scholarship, Korea Foundation (2001 - 2002)
  • Language scholarship, KLI, Yonsei University (1994)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Member, Luce Scholars Program Fellowship Selection Committee (2013 - Present)
  • Stanford Pre-major Advising, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • Reviewer, Seoul Journal of Korean Studies
  • Reviewer, Journal of Korean Studies
  • Reviewer, Acta Koreana
  • Reviewer, Cornell UP
  • Graduate fellowships committee, AY 13-14 fellowships, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)

Program Affiliations

  • Center for East Asian Studies

Professional Education

  • B.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Asian Studies and General Studies (1998)
  • M.A., The University of British Columbia, Asian Studies (2002)
  • Ph.D., The University of British Columbia, Asian Studies (2011)

Contact

  • Academic
    dafnaz@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures Position: Assoc Professor
    • 521 Memorial Way
    • Stanford,  California  94305 

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2000

Links

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • North Korea?s Translation of Anne Frank and the Politics of Self-Writing AJS REVIEW-THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES Zur, D. 2023; 47 (1): 149-175

    View details for DOI 10.1353/ajs.2023.0006

    View details for Web of Science ID 000989997900007

  • When Songs Don't Work: Western Tonalities and Korean Breath in Children's Songs of the Colonial Period KOREAN STUDIES Hwang, Y., Zur, D. 2022; 46: 8-42

    View details for DOI 10.1353/ks.2022.0002

    View details for Web of Science ID 000932018400003

  • Fantasy, the Final Frontier: Making Science Moral in Postwar North Korean Youth Culture JOURNAL OF KOREAN STUDIES Zur, D. 2018; 23 (2): 275–98

    View details for DOI 10.1215/21581665-6973308

    View details for Web of Science ID 000448341100005

  • Science and Literature in Korea: An Introduction JOURNAL OF KOREAN STUDIES Zur, D., Hanscom, C. P. 2018; 23 (2): 213–22

    View details for DOI 10.1215/21581665-6973266

    View details for Web of Science ID 000448341100002

  • Writing the Real: Modernism in Korean Literature Modernism/Modernity Zur, D. 2018; 24 (2): 407-414

    View details for DOI 10.1353/mod.2018.0025

  • You Can't Write "Pak" on Television: Language as Power in Hebrew K-pop Fandom Telos Zur, D. 2018; 184 (Fall 2018): 139-162

    View details for DOI 10.3817/0918184139

  • MODERN KOREAN LITERATURE AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN A PRE- AND POST-COLONIAL DIGITAL AGE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF KOREAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY Zur, D., Kim, Y. 2017: 193–205

    View details for Web of Science ID 000445883100013

  • Figuring Korean Futures Children’s Literature in Modern Korea Zur, D. Stanford University Press. 2017

    View details for DOI 10.11126/stanford/9781503601680.001.0001

  • Landscape of the heart in Homeless Angels and Hometown of the Heart Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema Zur, D. 2015; 7 (1): 10-27

    View details for DOI 10.1080/17564905

  • Let's Go to the Moon: Science Fiction in the North Korean Children's Magazine Adong Munhak, 1956-1965 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES Zur, D. 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 Zur, D. Michigan: Wayne State UP. 2014
  • Whose War Were We Fighting? Constructing Memory and Managing Trauma in South Korean Children's Fiction INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH IN CHILDRENS LITERATURE Zur, D. 2009; 2 (2): 192-209

    View details for DOI 10.3366/E1755619809000696

    View details for Web of Science ID 000208106700004

  • Introduction to the Special Section Music That Moves: Sonic Narratives in Modern Korea KOREAN STUDIES Zur, D., Hwang, S. 2022; 46: 1-7

    View details for Web of Science ID 000932018400002

  • Rewriting Revolution: Women, Sexuality, and Memory in North Korean Fiction (Book Review) ACTA KOREANA Book Review Authored by: Zur, D. 2019; 22 (2): 399–403

    View details for Web of Science ID 000572429100012

  • ECOAMBIGUITY: Environmental Crises and East Asian Literatures (Book Review) PACIFIC AFFAIRS Book Review Authored by: Zur, D. 2013; 86 (4): 888-889

    View details for Web of Science ID 000327568600013

  • Literature and Film in Cold War South Korea. (Book Review) ACTA KOREANA Book Review Authored by: Zur, D. 2013; 16 (1): 269-272

    View details for Web of Science ID 000335968700017

  • Off to the Battle at Dawn Bang, H. edited by Zur, D., Son-jae, A. Seoul: Asia Publishers. 2013
  • Children’s Literature in Late Colonial Korea Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture Zur, D. 2012; 5: 347-353
  • The Sky Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture Tǒk, H. edited by Zur, D., McCann, D. Harvard University Press. 2012
  • Ice Cream The Asia Literary Review Yǒngha, K. 2012; 23
  • The Korean War in Children’s Picturebooks of the DPRK Exploring North Korean Arts Zur, D. Nuremberg: Verlag für moderne Kunst. 2011: 276–298
  • The Pager Waxen Wings: The Acta Koreana Anthology of Short Fiction From Korea Yǒngha, K. 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 Zur, D. 2010: 271–300
  • Reading Korea: An Anthology of Modern Korean Literature Zur, D. edited by Zur, D. Anvil Press (Philippians). 2008
  • Human Decency Acta Koreana Zur, D. 2008; 11 (3): 235-239
  • The Toad Groom: Folk Tales from Old Korea Chǒng’o, S. edited by Zur, D. Bo-Leaf Press (USA). 2008
  • Their Last Visitor Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture Yǒngha, K. edited by Zur, D., McCann, D. Harvard University Press. 2007: 9–36
  • This Tree of Yours Azaleas: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture Yǒngha, K. edited by Zur, D., McCann, D. Harvard University Press. 2007: 9–36
  • Travel Across Time: Modern ‘Rewrites’ of Pak Chiwǒn’s Yǒrha Ilgi Acta Koreana Zur, D. 2005; 8 (2): 49-64
  • The Man Who Sold His Shadow Korean Literature Today Yǒngha, K. 2005: 102-124
  • Lizard Columbia Anthology of Modern Korean Short Stories Yǒngha, K. edited by Zur, D. Columbia University Press. 2005: 371–382