History of everyday life in twentieth-century China
History of information management
Comparative literacy studies
War and society
Current Projects
My second book project, tentatively titled The Diasporic State: Cross-Border Information Flows in Wartime China, 1937–1945, investigates information exchanges among family members, friends, and state functionaries across political borders during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
I am also working on a digital project on the history of the Asian community at UA and in Tuscaloosa.
Courses Taught
Asian Civilization to 1400 (HY 113)
Asian Civilization From 1400 (HY 114)
History of Contemporary China (HY 338)
Chinese History Through Film (HY 400)
Modern China Since 1600 (HY404)
History of Literacy (HY 430)
History Writing Seminar (HY 665)
Awards and Honors
Research Fellowship, Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University (2022–2023)
Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences Community Engagement Academy, The University of Alabama (2021–2022)
Recognition through the Extra Credit program for making a unique difference to UA students, The University of Alabama (2021)
Professional Development Grant, Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, The University of Alabama ( 2021)
CARSCA, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Alabama (2019)
East Asia Library Travel Grants, Stanford University (2017)
“Learning the New Culture: Rural Literacy Education in Shanxi in the 1930s and 1940s,” in Routledge Handbook of Revolutionary China, ed. Alan Baumler. Routledge, 2019.
“From Peasants to Working People: A New Reading of Revolutionary Experiences in Rural China, 1944–1945,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 2021 Annual Conference, virtual conference, March 21–26, 2021.
“Waging Revolution through Taxation: The Chinese Communists in North China, 1937–1945,” 59th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC-AAS), New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL, January 17–19, 2020.
“To Get Rich Is Glorious: Numeracy, Taxation, and the Chinese Communists’ Early State-Building in Northwest Shanxi during the Second Sino-Japanese War,” Social Science History Association (SSHA) 2019 Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, November 21–24, 2019.
“Liberation through Learning? Rural Women’s Navigation of the Literate and Illiterate World in Revolutionary North China,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 2018 Annual Conference, Washington, DC, March 22–25, 2018.
“Mediated the Local and the Translocal: Literacy and Identity Formation in 1930s and 1940s Wartime China,” 46th Annual Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies Conference (MARAAS), Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, October 6–8, 2017.
“Contested Literacy Beliefs and Practices in Early 20th Century China,” 56th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC-AAS), University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, January 13–15, 2017.
“The Gaze of Modernity: Rural Literacy in the Early PRC,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 2016 Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, March 31–April 3, 2016.
