Jane Choi

Doctoral Student in Sociology
jane choi_headshot
janechoi@g.harvard.edu

Research Interests: Culture, ethnicity/race/nation, migration, class, inequality, Asia and Asian America, qualitative methods.

Jane Choi is a PhD student in Sociology. In her research, she examines what is taken to constitute "authentic" ethnic, racial, and national belonging, how claims to authenticity are constructed and contested, and how these processes shape inter- and intragroup boundaries. In her M.Phil thesis, she conducted interviews with second-generation Korean Americans to understand how they mobilize class resources to define and claim Korean ethnic authenticity. In her dissertation, she will examine how migrants’ class projects relate to their ethnonational identity work.

Before her PhD studies, Jane worked as a Research Assistant in the Family Well-Being and Children’s Development policy area at MDRC and attained a B.A. in Sociology from Columbia University. Jane was born in Seoul, S. Korea, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and received her early training as a researcher in New York City.

Previous Degrees:
AM, Sociology, Harvard University (2025)
BA, Sociology (Departmental Honors), Columbia University (2019)