I hold the position of Assistant Professor of East Asian History at Grinnell College, and am faculty chair (interim) of the Peace Studies Program. My work focuses on four interrelated issues: 1) the historical origins of China's contemporary "propaganda state," 2) U.S.-China transnational networks, 3) state and non-state media producers in China today, and 4) communications and international institutions. Through collaborative partnerships with scholars in the U.S., Britain, and Canada I have received support for this research from the John Fell OUP Research Fund (University of Oxford), Economic and Social Research Council of the British Academy, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Association of Asian Studies. I am an Associate of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Iowa, and an Affiliated Researcher with the Leverhulme Trust China's War with Japan Program at the University of Oxford. At Grinnell College I serve on the East Asian Studies committee, and as faculty advisor for off-campus study in the Republic of Korea. In December 2011 I joined the National Committee on United States-China Relations.
TEACHING AND STUDENT MENTORING
My priority is undergraduate research and mentoring, and I am available to work with closely with students on independent study or a Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) on the following topics:
- transnational relations of the Communist Party of China
- U.S. foreign policy in East Asia
- propaganda, communications, and wartime mobilization
- Grinnell and Grinnellians in Asia, including biographies of Katayama Sen (co-founder of the Communist Party of Japan) and Wu Guozhen (former mayor of Chongqing and Shanghai, and an influential Republic of China politician)
Current mentored projects include student research focusing on: 1) online politics in the People's Republic of China, 2) North Korean military strategy prior to the Korean War, 3) economic out-migration to China from Africa, Korea, and Southeast Asia
RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS
Guide to Using Declassified Documents
An Introduction to GTD (Gettings Things Done)
RESEARCH
I am currently engaged in collaborative research and editing projects relating to:
- grassroots society and politics in China between 1949 and 1976
- U.S.-China transnational relations
- "iGeneration" cinema, independent filmmaking, and local government reform in the contemporary PRC
- the history visual culture in modern China
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
