GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, SAN FRANCISCO
SAMPLE COURSES
Below are descriptions of designed / co-designed and taught as the instructor of record, followed by a list of the classes for which I've served as a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Graduate Student Instructor, and Grader.
WAR AND THE MAKING OF MODERN CHINA
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Taught: FALL 2023
Warfare and organized state violence has been a critical part of modern China’s construction over the past 150 years. What is the consequence of such violence for our understanding of PRC strategic behavior in the present day? How can these wars be placed in a larger regional context? Over the course of this time period, and across multiple governmental regimes, can a culturally ‘Chinese’ form of war be identified?
Conflicts will be analyzed in chronological fashion, beginning with the Taiping Civil War, The First Sino-Japanese War, the early republican “Warlord Period” in the second and third decades of the twentieth century, China’s participation in World War II, the Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists, the Cold War, and the People’s Republic of China’s military involvement in East and Southeast Asia.
This course covers various ways in which war in China or conducted by China has been written about in English-language scholarship. No knowledge of Chinese language is required, but some background in Chinese history would be extremely helpful. Students will be expected to lead discussion at least once in the quarter. Students will also be required to write weekly short response papers and a final paper at the end of the quarter. The course is offered at three and four credits—the latter requiring a longer and more substantive final paper.
TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHINA
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Taught: SUMMER 2022, 2023
This summer intensive lecture course covers modern Chinese history from the late-19th century through the late-20th century, and examines topics including imperialism and war, commercialization and urbanization, political and social revolutions, and the contested and debated place of China in the world. In addition to textbook readings, students analyze primary sources in English translation that foreground not only state-level and elite perspectives, but also, importantly, the experiences of everyday people.
MODERN CHINA
SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY
Taught: SPRING 2022
This asynchronous online course examines the history of China from roughly 1600 to the present day. 400 years ago, the place we today call China was the most prosperous nation on earth, the hegemon over its neighbors, and envied by all others. 200 years later, it had become an object of pity, carved up by foreign incursion, and riven by civil war. Now, 200 years after that nadir, China has become a rising power, with a rapidly growing economy and one of the largest populations in the world. What explains this fall and rise? What has changed and what has stayed the same? This course interrogates and synthesizes the various narratives that have sought to answer these questions through a combination of recorded lectures and short primary source readings, the latter aimed to give students a sense for what Chinese themselves were thinking and writing about throughout this period of time.
ASIA-PACIFIC HISTORIES AND MODERNITIES
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Taught: FALL 2015- 2018, 2022, 2023
This graduate seminar examines the modern transformation of East Asia focusing primarily on China, Japan, and Korea, emphasizing historical methods for understanding contemporary East Asia within the context of modernity. The scope of this seminar addresses topics in economic development, global politics, cultural studies and other fields. The course draws on journal articles, book chapters, and other materials posted online and brought in by students.
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WAR AND STATE VIOLENCE IN THE MAKING OF MODERN CHINA
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Taught: SPRING 2016
Warfare and organized state violence have been a critical part of modern China’s construction over the past 150 years. What are the consequences of such violence for our understanding of PRC strategic behavior in the present day? How can these wars be placed in a larger regional context? Over the course of this time period, and across multiple governmental regimes, can a culturally ‘Chinese’ form of war be identified? Conflicts will be analyzed in chronological fashion, beginning with the Taiping Civil War of the mid-19th century, the first Sino-Japanese War, the various battles of the early republican “Warlord Period” in the second and third decades of the twentieth century, China’s participation in World War II, the Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists, and China’s military involvement in East and Southeast Asia.
ETHNICITY, NATIONALISM AND HISTORY IN MODERN EAST ASIA
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Taught: SPRING 2014
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This is a seminar that examines the interrelated and oft-conflated concepts of ethnicity and nationalism in China, Japan, and Korea for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. What does it mean to belong to one of these groups? How do they relate to each other, and to non-East Asian states and societies? How can their understanding of these terms be historically compared? We grapple with these and other abstract questions in a grounded and coherent way in order to develop the basic skills of a liberal arts education: reading critically and writing persuasively. The course also serves as an introduction to historical research and will focus on the components of historical thinking: change over time, causality, context, complexity, and contingency.
Stanford University
Center for East Asian Studies Lecturer
EASTASN 261: "War and the Making of Modern China," Fall 2023
COLLEGE / Thinking Matters Teaching Fellow
COLLEGE107: “Preventing Human Extinction,” (Paul Edwards, Steve Luby) Spring 2023
COLLEGE102: "Citizenship in the 21st Century," Winter 2022, 2023
COLLEGE101: "Why College?" Fall 2022
Thinking Matters 65: “Preventing Human Extinction,” (Paul Edwards, Steve Luby) Spring 2020, 2021, 2022
Thinking Matters 55: “Understanding China Through Film," (Ban Wang) Winter 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021
Thinking Matters 60: “American Enemies,” (Gordon Chang) Fall 2019
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University of California, Berkeley
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Instructor of Record
History 116D: “Twentieth-Century China,” Summer 2022, 2023
History 103F: “War and State Violence in the Making of Modern China,” Spring 2016
History R1B: “Ethnicity, Nationalism and History in Modern East Asia,” Spring 2014
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Graduate Student Instructor
Political Economy 101: “Contemporary Theories of Political Economy” (David Beecher) Spring 2018
International Area Studies 45: “Survey of World History” (Stephanie Ballenger) Fall 2017
History 6B: “History of China, Mongols to Mao” (Alexander Cook) Spring 2012
History 6A, “History of China: Origins to the Mongol Conquest” (Nicolas Tackett) Fall 2010
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Reader (Grader)
History 182A: “Science, Technology, and Society” (Massimo Mazzotti) Spring 2019
Media Studies 111: “Media History” (Matthew Berry) Fall 2018
History 116D: “Twentieth-Century China” (Brooks Jessup) Fall 2011
History 117A: “Chinese Popular Culture” (David Johnson) Spring 2011