Kong, Minwoo

Minwoo Kong (he/him/his) is a Ph.D. student in the History Department at Columbia, whose research focuses on the history of political economy, labor, business, and economic discourse in the 20th century United States. He is primarily interested in reinterpreting the transformation of American capitalism from the 1970s to the 1990s, from global and transnational perspectives. In particular, his research examines the way labor, business, and policymakers sought to recast the U.S. industrial order in its relationship with the emerging realities of global interdependence and the "post-Fordist" alternatives of Japan and FRG. He is also interested in the American state, Cold War, imperialism and World-systems, developmental state, and computerization.

Prior to pursuing doctoral studies at Columbia, Minwoo completed a MA in Western History and a BA in Western History (double major in sociology) at Seoul National University in South Korea. His Master's thesis was a reinterpretation of the financialization of U.S. pension funds in the early 1970s, viewing it as a part of an industrial program that traded economic security for the securities market. His writing has been published in the Korean Journal of Western History, Gwanak Historical Studies, and Korean Journal of Local History and Culture. Besides, he is a cinephile, critic, hiker, and singer.