Dr. Christopher Bae
Director, Center for Korean Studies
Professor, Department of Anthropology
I was born in Korea to Korean parents. However, from an early age, I had an atypical upbringing; one that drew me to eastern Asian paleoanthropology from early on. At about the age of one I was orphaned in Seoul, Korea and after living in an orphanage for six months, I was then adopted by an American family. Growing up in a Caucasian-American household and neighborhood always made me aware and interested in topics such as race and human variation. In order to discover my ethnic “roots” I traveled to Korea during my undergraduate days on an exchange program. My original objective in going to Korea was to reconstruct my own past, but I have since expanded these interests to eastern Asian prehistory, as one of paleoanthropology’s goals is to reconstruct the past without all the pieces.
Educational Background
PhD, Anthropology, Rutgers University
MA, Anthropology, University of Arizona
BA, Anthropology, Stony Brook University (SUNY), cum laude
Email: cjbae@hawaii.edu
Phone: (808) 956-8193