Premodern China, especially antiquarianism and the history and historiography of science.
About
In 2015, I published The Art of Medicine in Early China: The Ancient and Medieval Origins of a Modern Archive (2015). In this book, I investigate the formation of the archive used by current scholars to tell the history of Chinese medicine. The Art of Medicine reveals how premodern forms of Chinese knowledge production were integrated into the current historiography. It calls upon modern scholars to break with the longstanding habit of treating non‑Western and particularly pre-modern traditions as mere “content providers” for contemporary theory.
I am now writing a book on the history of dairy in China before the twentieth century, a topic that has received scant attention in the West. The first installment of this project, which examines the cheeses from the Shanghai region in the sixteenth century, appeared in Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies (2019). This project grows out of my previous work in the history of medicine, my general interest in recipes, and my longstanding fascination with the connections between foodways and environment.
Recent Courses Taught
Introduction to Chinese Civilization
Science in Premodern China
Acupuncture: Historical and Contemporary Transformations
Affiliation(s)
- Asian Languages & Cultures
- Center for Chinese Studies
Field(s) of Study
- Premodern China, especially antiquarianism and the history and historiography of science.
