Bio

Thank you for visiting my website! 

I received my Ph.D in Political Science from Boston University, with a concentration in African Studies in May 2020. The subfields I majored in are Comparative Politics and International Relations. 

My name is Seulgie Lim (임슬기) and I used to go by Claire when I first arrived in the US in 2013. I still use it as my “coffeeshop name” to make my and barristas' lives easier. But I 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 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.

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 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 (year of the Olympics in South Korea). 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 in Nouadhibou. We all went back to South Korea in the summer of 2002 (year of the World Cup in South Korea), amidst a lot of tears.

I received my BA degree at Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea. I majored in International Relations with a minor in English Literature and Language. After vowing to never go back to school and a brief yet memorable stint dabbling in corporte life at an online gaming company, I 'broke my vow' and went back to SNU for a Masters degree. My MA was in International Cooperation at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) and I made some lifelong friends and met great mentors too. It is during my MA studies that I decided to further pursue my studies and tempt my fate within academia.

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. With another fortunate turn of events, Senegal had voted a law not long before I had to decide where to focus my research and write my dissertation on. 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))  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.

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. I strive to always think about pedagogy and put what I have learned into practice in my classes at Bates College.