Biography
Jieon Yoo is a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research explores the intertwined histories of empire, decolonization, and the Cold War in East Asia, focusing on postcolonial Korea and its connections with Japan and the United States. She examines how the material and maritime legacies of the Japanese empire intersected with the expanding military and logistical networks of the United States, reshaping the movement of people, commodities, and resources across the region.
Her current work focuses on informal economies, black markets, and maritime smuggling networks as sites where these transformations became embedded in everyday life. Tracing the circulation of military supplies, foreign commodities, and smuggled goods, she examines how ordinary people participated in and navigated changing regimes of exchange that connected Korea to Japan and the United States. Drawing on archival research, oral history, and material culture, her work approaches decolonization and the Cold War from below, foregrounding everyday practices of circulation, exchange, consumption, and survival.
Education
M.A., History, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2025
B.A., Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea (Summa Cum Laude), 2021
Field
- East Asian History
MA Title
- “Shadow Networks: Smuggling and the Making of Modern Korea”
Selected Publications
- The PX Economy: Logistics, Leakage, and U.S. Soft Power in Cold War South Korea.”, The Journal of Military History (forthcoming)
- “Translating ‘Freedom’: Gender, Anti-Communism, and the Cultural Cold War in South Korea’s novel, Madame Freedom.”, Polygraph 31, “Translating the Cold War.” (Forthcoming 2026.)
- Review of Spirit Power: Politics and Religion in Korea’s American Century, by Heonik Kwon and Jun Hwan Park. Asian Pacific Perspectives 19, no. 2 (2026).
Selected Awards
- First Prize, John A. Adams ‘71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis Cold War Essay Contest, “The PX Economy: Logistics, Leakage, and U.S. Soft Power in Cold War South Korea”; publication in The Journal of Military History forthcoming (2025)
- Excellence in Teaching Award, Department of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Courses Taught as TA
- History 104 – Introduction to Japanese History (Fall 2024)
- History 255 – East Asian Civilization (Spring 2025)
- History 319 – The Vietnam War (Fall 2025)
- History 434 – American Foreign Relations (Spring 2026)