Taewon Kim
The WON lab
Identifying Work, Oppressive systems,
and Needs of marginalized groups
Buddhism teaches that life is suffering. But why is life so painful? And how do we preserve our dignity amid that pain?
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In seeking to answer this big question, my scholarship explores how individuals and communities navigate institutionalized oppression, economic precarity, and the enforced silencing of collective memory. I investigate how people respond to these structural injustices; not only with survival, but with resistance, meaning-making, and dignity. I want to know not only what oppresses us, but also how we rise. My work centers the ways people navigate oppression, not as passive victims, but as resilient agents who resist, remember, and rebuild.
WORK
To identify contextual/cultural antecedents and mental health-related outcomes of suboptimal work (e.g., underemployment, low wage work, and precarious work) and decent/meaningful/fulfilling work
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SYSTEMIC CHANGE
To identify forms of oppressive forces that have been under-focused in counseling psychology (bias and discrimination toward race, immigration status, non-standard American English, etc) and to develop interventions for marginalized groups