Thank you for visiting my website!
This is me, trying to 'expand my online presence' as an academic.
My name is Seulgie Lim, and I used to go by Claire when I first arrived in the US in 2013. I still use it as my “coffeeshop name” but have since learned to value my Korean name Seulgie (which means wisdom and is a gender-neutral name in Korea and was carefully chosen by my parents) and to respectfully yet strongly encourage others around me to use Seulgie. I received my Ph.D in Political Science from Boston University, with a concentration in African Studies in May 2020. I major in Comparative Politics and International Relations.
I joined the faculty at the department of Politics at Bates College (ME) in Fall 2020, and have been enjoying my time, work and students since. I teach classes on international relations, politics and governments of sub-Saharan Africa, gender and power, human rights, and overall gender and African studies related classes.
My sister and I at a beach in Nouadhibou - circa 1991
I grew up in Mauritania, a beautifully vast yet solemn country in West Africa. My dad took the biggest chance of his life when he up and left for a country he never even knew it existed prior to this adventure in the summer of 1987. My mom joined him half a year later, with my sister and I, and we started our life in the small town of Nouadhibou in January 1988. It was the first time for all of us to be traveling outside of Korea. What was supposed to be a relatively short stay turned into fourteen years of creating a new home for all of us. We all went back to South Korea in the summer of 2002, amidst a lot of tears.
I did my BA and MA at Seoul National University in South Korea. I majored in International Relations with a minor in English Literature and Language for my BA and my MA was in International Cooperation at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS). I’ve made some lifelong friends at GSIS and made great mentors too, and it is during my MA studies that I decided to further pursue my studies and tempt my fate within academia.
Boston is where I also took on running for the first time and have only enjoyed it more and more over the years.
I joined Boston University in 2013 and wanted the work I would be focusing on for the rest of my life to somehow lead me back to my ‘homeland’. I therefore chose to delve into African politics, and lucky for me, Boston University boasts a vibrant and diverse African Studies community. Boston was a dear home to me for seven years and I still miss it, especially the readily available Asian food varieties!
My research focuses on African feminisms, gender relations, political representation and religion in Senegal. For my dissertation, I specifically looked at the consequences the Gender Parity Law (also known as the Law on Absolute Parity (Loi sur la parité absolue - LPA) has had on Senegalese society, namely the different ways men and women perceive the law and the notion of equality/parity. I have also analyzed what the law and the movement behind the law mean for Senegalese women, women’s activism, and African Feminist theory overall.
Otherwise, I am broadly interested in issues related to Gender, Feminism, Women’s Political and Social Participation, Religion and Politics, Civil Society, and Race. I have a book chapter on Islam and West Africa in a book published at Palgrave and Macmillan.
As part of my fellowship at BU, I have TA-ed and taught various classes as sole instructor: Intro to IR, Human Rights in Africa, Women and Women’s Movements in Africa, and College Academic Writing. I worked at the Center of Teaching and Learning at BU, where I learned more on ways to engage students and efficient pedagogy. I greatly enjoy teaching, sharing my expertise, and most of all, learning from my students.
