Songhee Lee

Dr. Songhee Lee is a researcher at the University of Ulsan and lecturer in Korean Sinographic literatures at Korea University. Her current book project, "Under the Name of Zhu Xi: Neo-Confucianism and the Paradox of Moral Practice in Late Joseon Korea," reconceptualizes late Chosŏn Confucianism not as an ideology of oppression but as a contested discursive resource appropriated across social strata—from aristocratic women to marginalized commoners. Drawing from her doctoral dissertation, the book examines how Neo-Confucian language, when institutionalized in political rituals and moral recognition systems, paradoxically enabled both conformity and subversion. Dr. Lee’s broader research interests lie at the intersection of moral philosophy, ideological transformation, and literary-political discourse in premodern Korea. Her recent publications include

• “義와 忠의 이중주: 朝鮮 後期 漢文小說의 女性英雄型 人物에게서 나타나는 女性倫理主體의 확대” (Loyalty vs Chastity: The Expansion of the Female Ethical Subject in Late Joseon Korean Novels, 2023),

• “조선 후기 화이론(華夷論)의 전개와 중화관의 충돌” (Can Joseon Achieve Chunghwa(中華)?: The Clash of Chunghwa Ideologies in 18th Century Joseon Korea, 2023).

She received her Ph.D. in Sinographic literature from Korea University in 2021.