Leif-Eric Easley is the 2010-11 Northeast Asian History Fellow at Shorenstein APARC. Dr. Easley completed his Ph.D. at the Harvard University Department of Government in 2010, specializing in East Asian international relations. His dissertation presents a theory of national identity perceptions, bilateral trust between governments, and patterns of security cooperation, based on extensive fieldwork in Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing.

While at Shorenstein APARC, Easley will engage in research and writing for a book manuscript on nationalism and strategic trust in Northeast Asia. He will also teach a course addressing issues of national identity and contested history, with focus on implications for the international relations of Japan, China, South Korea, and the United States.

Easley completed his B.A. in political science with a minor in mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated summa cum laude and senior of the year with a thesis on Theater Missile Defense in Asia. He was a long-time affiliate of the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) and was Japan area editor for the Harvard Asia Quarterly. He served as a teaching fellow at Harvard in the subjects of Asian international relations and American foreign policy and was advisor for a senior thesis on historical memory and foreign policy in Asia. He was also a visiting scholar at Yonsei University and the University of Southern California's Korean Studies Institute.

Easley regularly speaks at international conferences and is actively involved in high-level U.S.-Asia exchanges (Track II diplomacy) as a Kelly Fellow with the Pacific Forum-Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). His research appears in a variety of academic journals, supplemented by commentaries in major newspapers.

Sookyung Kim is the 2010-2011 Takahashi Predoctoral Fellow at Shorenstein APARC. She is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Stanford University. Her major research interests focus on the relationship between globalization and nationalism, especially on how immigration impacts national identity of South Korea. She currently is completing a dissertation titled "Renationalizing the Nation: Securing Korean National Identity in the Era of Global Migration." South Korea, a mono-ethnic society maintaining strong nationalism, has recently emerged as a new destination for international migration especially from poorer Asian countries. The influx of foreigners and their growing visibility are challenging the mono-ethnic nature of Korean identity. This study examines how Korean society manipulates immigration issue to serve its competing needs of securing national identity and simultaneously conforming to global norms.

Before entering graduate school, Kim pursued a career in journalism from 2000 to 2004, working as a staff writer in the Dong-A Daily, one of the most widely circulated newspapers in South Korea. She has written articles on social affairs and arts. She also briefly worked as a translator in Newsweek Korean Edition. Kim received her B.A. in linguistics from Seoul National University. She was born in Seoul, South Korea.

This fellowship supports a Stanford University predoctoral student's research within a broad range of topics related to the political economy of contemporary East Asia. Fellows whose main focus is Japan are called Takahashi Fellows, in honor of the Takahashi family, whose generous gift has made this fellowship possible.

Professor Dan Banik is a Consulting Scholar at CDDRL and is currently completing a study examining the impacts of development aid from Norway and China on poverty reduction in Malawi and Zambia. He is a professor of political science and research director at the University of Oslo’s Centre for Development and Environment (SUM). He is also holds a visiting professor at China Agricultural University in Beijing.

Prof. Banik has conducted research in India, China, Bangladesh, Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa and Mexico, and directs the interdisciplinary research program 'Poverty and Development in the 21st Century (PAD)' at the University of Oslo. He has previously served as the head of the Norwegian-Finnish Trust Fund in the World Bank for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD) and on the Board of the Norwegian Crown Prince and Crown Princess's Foundation. His books include ‘The Democratic Dividend: Political Transition, Poverty and Inclusive Development in Malawi (with Blessings Chinsinga, Routledge 2016), ‘The Legal Empowerment Agenda: Poverty, Labour and the Informal Economy in Africa’ (2011, Ashgate), ‘Poverty and Elusive Development’ (2010, Scandinavian University Press) and ‘Starvation and India’s Democracy’ (2009, Routledge).

Prof. Banik is married to Vibeke Kieding Banik, who is a historian at the University of Oslo.