Juhwan Seo
Appointment Details
- Priority Area: Race, Racism, and Inequality
- Disciplines: Law & Society; Immigration; Gender, Sexuality, & Family; Critical Security Studies
- Mentor: Dr. Frank Edwards & Dr. Valerio Bacak
- Mentors' Disciplines: Dr. Frank Edwards: race, policing, children and families, welfare state | Dr. Valerio Bacak: health inequality, drug policy, comparative criminology, LGBT health
- School: School of Criminal Justice
About Juhwan Seo
Dr. Juhwan Seo is a sociologist of crimmigration, law, immigration bureaucracy, and family and sexuality. His research explores how the law shapes intimate aspects of life for those seeking legal inclusion. He primarily uses qualitative methods (including archival research and public records requests) to research hard-to-reach communities. He earned his PhD in Sociology at Cornell University. As a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Seo will be conducting follow-up interviews from his dissertation project and writing research manuscripts, including a monograph. This project explores post-DOMA queer migration and the adjudication of family reunification claims. Drawing on interviews with same-sex binational couples applying for the marriage-based green card and lawyers who provide legal guidance, this project considers how immigration law and bureaucracy shape everyday practices and citizenship rights of queer immigrant families. Queer immigrants must conform to homonationalist logics or risk facing exclusion—including family separation, criminalization, and deportation. This project was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice. He will also be working on related projects exploring racialized and stratified migration dynamics to the United States using administrative and survey data. In Fall 2025, he will be teaching "Immigration Law & Justice" with the School of Criminal Justice. He also looks forward to working with NJ-STEP to expand educational opportunities. He hopes to create welcoming learning environments that challenge students to (re)consider the social forces that shape our world.