EP #257 - 04.09.2021 - COVID-19 & The History of Facemasks in East Asia

Today is a discussion of face masks and public health in East Asia with my guests Hyungsub Choi and Jaehwan Hyun.

Hyungsub Choi is associate professor in the School of Liberal Arts at Seoul National University of Science and Technology. He is interested in technological artifacts in modern Korean history. Together with Heewon Kim, Hyungsub worked on the masking behavior in Korea during the current pandemic.

Jaehwan Hyun is Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at Pusan National University, South Korea. He is working on the post-WWII history of human biology and environmental sciences with a focus on transnational connections between South Korea, Japan, and the United States. He is also making an effort to create a research collective in studying the history of mask-wearing in East Asia. As part of this effort, he organized a virtual workshop titled "The Socio-Material History of Masked Societies in East Asia" last October. The workshop outcome is now under review at the East Asian Science, Technology, and Society Journal.