Teaching
Princeton University
Everyday Life in Mao’s China — Spring 2020 & Spring 2022
Syllabus
For three decades, Mao Zedong presided over one of the most ambitious social experiments in human history. This course explores everyday life in China in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s: the radical reordering of economic, political, social, and gender relations; the shattering experiences of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; and the evolution of a party-state that governs China up to the present, albeit in altered form. While Maoist ideology and policies were homogenizing in intent and often in effect, this course will emphasize the ways in which the experiences of these three decades were mediated through categories like gender, social status, and ethnicity. Students will be guided through the increasingly rich scholarship on the Mao era, and each week will encounter voices from the period through memoir literature and oral history.
Uyghur History: A Survey — Spring 2021
Syllabus
If you follow the news, you’ve likely heard about the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim community of around twelve million living primarily in northwest China. This course offers a broad overview of Uyghur history, culture, and religion from ancient times to the present. We will read widely in scholarship across disciplines, and will engage with native voices through translations of poetry, prose, memoir literature, and more. Through intensive discussion, a diverse set of readings, and written work building to a final paper, students will come to understand how Uyghur history connects to historical moments ranging from ancient nomadic empires to twentieth-century Communism.
China’s Others: Minority Peoples in the Chinese Past and Present — Fall 2020
Syllabus
This course challenges common preconceptions of China by placing ethnic and religious minority groups at the center of the narrative, and demonstrating the key roles these groups have played in the Chinese past and present. Social and political change in China has often found early expression in borderland and minority communities, from the construction of premodern empires to the imposition of postmodern surveillance regimes. A significant theme in the course will be the process by which diverse communities with distinct histories, cultures, and beliefs have been redefined over the past century as Chinese minority groups. We will likewise see that the framing of the modern Chinese nation has depended in part on the designation of minority groups as inherently “other.” Through comparison with indigenous and minority relations with majority communities in other countries, we will set these issues in a global context.
Modern China — Fall 2019
Understanding China is unquestionably key to comprehending our world today; but to make sense of China’s present, one must first grapple with China’s complex recent past. In this class, students will acquire a broad-based understanding of China’s history over the past three centuries, with an emphasis on the last 120 years. Following a brief overview of the broad sweep of Chinese history, we will learn about China’s last dynasty, the Qing; about the rapid political and social changes that began in the mid-nineteenth century; and about the complexities and contradictions of China’s twentieth century. We will consider some of the long-range trends that have shaped China in the modern period, as well as the individuals and events—famous and everyday—that help make up modern Chinese history. In doing so, we will also come to question some frequent assumptions about China, its people, and its past.
Syllabus
For three decades, Mao Zedong presided over one of the most ambitious social experiments in human history. This course explores everyday life in China in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s: the radical reordering of economic, political, social, and gender relations; the shattering experiences of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; and the evolution of a party-state that governs China up to the present, albeit in altered form. While Maoist ideology and policies were homogenizing in intent and often in effect, this course will emphasize the ways in which the experiences of these three decades were mediated through categories like gender, social status, and ethnicity. Students will be guided through the increasingly rich scholarship on the Mao era, and each week will encounter voices from the period through memoir literature and oral history.
Uyghur History: A Survey — Spring 2021
Syllabus
If you follow the news, you’ve likely heard about the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim community of around twelve million living primarily in northwest China. This course offers a broad overview of Uyghur history, culture, and religion from ancient times to the present. We will read widely in scholarship across disciplines, and will engage with native voices through translations of poetry, prose, memoir literature, and more. Through intensive discussion, a diverse set of readings, and written work building to a final paper, students will come to understand how Uyghur history connects to historical moments ranging from ancient nomadic empires to twentieth-century Communism.
China’s Others: Minority Peoples in the Chinese Past and Present — Fall 2020
Syllabus
This course challenges common preconceptions of China by placing ethnic and religious minority groups at the center of the narrative, and demonstrating the key roles these groups have played in the Chinese past and present. Social and political change in China has often found early expression in borderland and minority communities, from the construction of premodern empires to the imposition of postmodern surveillance regimes. A significant theme in the course will be the process by which diverse communities with distinct histories, cultures, and beliefs have been redefined over the past century as Chinese minority groups. We will likewise see that the framing of the modern Chinese nation has depended in part on the designation of minority groups as inherently “other.” Through comparison with indigenous and minority relations with majority communities in other countries, we will set these issues in a global context.
Modern China — Fall 2019
Understanding China is unquestionably key to comprehending our world today; but to make sense of China’s present, one must first grapple with China’s complex recent past. In this class, students will acquire a broad-based understanding of China’s history over the past three centuries, with an emphasis on the last 120 years. Following a brief overview of the broad sweep of Chinese history, we will learn about China’s last dynasty, the Qing; about the rapid political and social changes that began in the mid-nineteenth century; and about the complexities and contradictions of China’s twentieth century. We will consider some of the long-range trends that have shaped China in the modern period, as well as the individuals and events—famous and everyday—that help make up modern Chinese history. In doing so, we will also come to question some frequent assumptions about China, its people, and its past.
University of Massachusetts Boston
The History of Modern China — Spring 2016
Harvard University
Modern China: 1894-The Present — Teaching Fellow for Arunabh Ghosh, Spring 2016
Fairy Tale, Myth, and Fantasy Literature — Teaching Fellow for Maria Tatar, Fall 2015
Intermediate Uyghur II — Spring 2015
Intermediate Uyghur I — Fall 2014
Fairy Tale, Myth, and Fantasy Literature — Teaching Fellow for Maria Tatar, Fall 2015
Intermediate Uyghur II — Spring 2015
Intermediate Uyghur I — Fall 2014