Hyemin Lee

Hyemin Lee is a medical and linguistic anthropologist who engages semiotics, science and technology studies (STS), and Korean studies. Broadly, her research examines how South Korea’s technoscientific projects intersect with scientific evidence-based policy frameworks for traditional Korean medicine (han-ǔi-hak), shifting geopolitical imaginaries, environmental change, and the imperatives of a science-driven economy. She explores this question with and through Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng; insam in Korean), a traditional medicinal plant with deep historical and geopolitical significance in South Korea and East Asia. She has also researched communicative practices in traditional Korean medicine clinics in contemporary Korean society, identity performance in South Korean political podcasts, and identity practices of North Korean defector female students in Seoul, South Korea. Drawing on her training in linguistic anthropology, she also explores topics related to translation, narratives, and the semiotics of senses.

Hyemin earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from New York University in 2025 and holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Anthropology from Seoul National University, South Korea. Her work has received the support of the National Science Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.