CURRENT POSITION
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (researcher, lecturer, and technical manager for the The Maoist Legacy Database) at the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Freiburg, August 2016-present
EDUCATION
Ph.D History, University of California Santa Cruz, December 2014
Dissertation: "The Politics of Socialist Athletics in the People's Republic of China, 1949-1966"
Advisors: Gail Hershatter, Emily Honig, Alan Christy
Secondary fields: Teaching World History; Politics
M.A. History, University of California Santa Cruz, June 2009
Master's paper: "Elite Competitive Sport in the People's Republic of China 1958-1966:
The Games of the New Emerging Forces"
B.S. Information Technology, with honors magna cum laude, Virginia Tech, May 2002
Concentration: Computer-Based Decision Support Systems
Minors: Global Business; History.
AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
2017 Best Article of the Year (2013) for the Journal of Sport History
2015-2016 International Institute for Asian Studies Fellow
2013 UC Santa Cruz, Institute for Humanities Research Summer Dissertation Fellowship
2012 UC Santa Cruz, Institute for Humanities Research Travel Grant
2010-2011 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
2010-2011 University of California Pacific Rim Dissertation Fellowship (declined)
2010 UC Santa Cruz, History Department Travel Grant
2008-2009 University of California Pacific Rim mini-grant
2008 UC Santa Cruz, Graduate Student Association Travel Grant
2008 UC Santa Cruz, History Department Pre-dissertation Summer Fellowship
2008 UC Santa Cruz, Institute for Humanities Research Travel Grant
2002 Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities
2001 Eugene V. Fife International Business Scholarship
Digital Humanities
HASTAC Scholar, 2009-2010
2009 National Endowment for the Humanities, Digital Humanities Start-up Grant, initial technical
coordinator for the project Eternal Flames: Living Memories of the Pacific War
2007 Web Developer, Programmer, and Research Assistant for the project: World History Matters,
awarded the James Harvey Robinson Prize by the American Historical Association for
"outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning of history."
PUBLICATIONS & REVIEWS
Justice After Mao: The Politics of Historical Truth in the People’s Republic of China. Co-editor with Daniel Leese (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
"Producing Socialist Bodies: Transnational Sports Networks and Athletes in 1950s China." In Anja Blanke, Klaus Mühlhahn, and Julia C. Strauss, eds., Revolutionary Transformations: The People's Republic of China in the 1950s (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
"Within or outside international sport? Chinese leaders in the 1950s and 1960s." In Staps, Volume 125, Issue 3, 2019
"Learning from the Soviet Big Brother: The Early Years of Sport in the People's Republic of China." In Robert Edelman and Chris Young, eds., The Whole World Was Watching: Sport In The Cold War (Stanford University Press, December 2019)
"Friendship is solidarity: The Chinese ping pong team visits Africa in 1962." In Simon Rofe, ed., Sport and Diplomacy: Games within Games (Manchester University Press, August 2018), 110-129
"'You challenge yourself and you're not afraid of anything!' Women's narratives of running in Shanghai." Co-authored with Noora Ronkainen. Sociology of Sport Journal, September 2018
"No Longer 'Sick': Visualizing 'Victorious' Athletes in 1950s Chinese Films. Historical Social Research 43 (2018) 2: 220-50
"Giving 'prominence to politics': African sportsmen visit China in the early Cultural Revolution." In Kathryn Batchelor and Xiaoling Zhang, eds., China-Africa Relations: Building Images through Cultural Cooperation, Media Representation and Communication (London: Routledge, 2017), 51-72
"'Running Fever': Understanding runner identity in Shanghai through turning point narratives." Co-authored with Noora Ronkainen, Ting Ding, Shilun You, and Lin Xu. Leisure Studies, May 2017
"A Champion for Socialist China." Afro-Asian Visions, June 7, 2016
"'China, why not?': Serious leisure and transmigrant runners' stories from Beijing." Co-authored with Noora Ronkainen, Marlen Harrison, and Tatiana Ryba. Leisure Studies, February 2016
"From Soviet kin to Afro-Asian leader: The People's Republic of China and international sport in the early 1960s." Comparativ, Volume 23, Issue 3, 2013
"Elite competitive sport in the People's Republic of China 1958-1966: The Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO)." Journal of Sport History, Volume 40, Number 2, Summer 2013 (awarded best journal article of the year)
Book review, "The Olympic Games, the Soviet Sports Bureaucracy, and the Cold War: Red Sport, Red Tape by Jenifer Parks." Journal of Sport History, Summer 2018
Book review, "Farewell to the God of Plague: Chairman Mao's Campaign to Deworm China by Miriam Gross." Twentieth-Century China, October 2017
Book review, "Doing fieldwork in China...with Kids! by Candice Cornet and Tami Blumenfield (eds)." New Asia Books, November 2016
Book review, "Sporting Gender: Women Athletes and Celebrity-Making During China's National Crisis, 1931-1945 by Gao Yunxiang." Women and Gender in Chinese Studies Review, December 2014
Review, "China After the Sino-Soviet Split: Maoist Politics, Global Narratives, and the Imagination of the World by Zachary Scarlett." Dissertation Reviews, November 2014
"Fresh from the Archives: The Foreign Ministry Archives of the People's Republic of China." Dissertation Reviews, February 2012
"In Search of Old Chinese Films." The China Beat, March 2011
"Interview: Eric Gordon on Participatory Chinatown." HASTAC, March 2010
PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS
"'Olympia? Nein, Danke!': Berchtesgaden's 'failed' bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics." ISHPES Conference, Université de Lausanne, July 2023
"Sports Diplomacy, China, and the Afro-Asian World: Reassessing the 1960s Games of the New Emerging Forces Movement." Sport, Diplomacy and Influence seminar series, May 2023
"China, Sport, and the Third World in the 1960s: Reassessing the Games of the New Emerging Forces movement." Ce que la guerre froide a fait au sport Mondial, colloque, Nantes Université, March 2023 (invited)
"China, Africa, and sport in the 1960s." Sportanouka (Soviet sports research network), January 2022 (invited)
"Transnational and International: Athletes and sports networks in China under Mao." International Centre for Sports History and Culture (ICSHC) Research Webinars series, De Montfort University, Leicester, January 2021 (invited)
"Introduction to using the Maoist Legacy Project database" (Zoom presentation, email me for the recording), July 2020
"Producing Socialist Bodies: Transnational Sports Networks and Athletes in 1950s China." "How Maoism Was Made: Analysing Chinese Communism beyond the Totalitarian Lens, 1949-1965" British Academy Conference, London, November 2018 (invited)
"Producing Socialist Bodies: Transnational Sports Networks and Athletes in 1950s China." "Rethinking 1950s China - New Approaches, New Materials, and New Challenges" Conference, Hanover, October 2018 (invited)
"Collecting Data for the Maoist Legacy Project." (co-speaker) "Statistics, Categories, Politics: Analyzing, Interpreting, and Visualizing Data in Recent Chinese History" workshop, Freiburg, October 2018 (workshop co-organizer)
"Researching China and International Sport." Institut des sciences du sport de l'Université de Lausanne, May 2018 (invited)
"Doing Digital History of the People's Republic of China: The Maoist Legacy Project Database." "Geisteswissensch@ften 4.0: Politik, Probleme und Potentiale der Digital Humanities," Freiburg, January 2018
"The People's Republic of 'Returned' Chinese: Transnational Athletes in 1950s China." "Golden Games: Sport and Diplomacy in East Asia and Beyond," workshop, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, December 2017 (invited)
"'Struggling against colonialism and imperialism': China, decolonization, and the world of international sport, 1949-1966." ENIUGH Congress, Budapest, August 2017
"The burden of the 'double burden' on Chinese coaches: From Qiu Zhonghui to Jenny Lang Ping." Réseau d’Etudes des Relations Internationales Sportives, Olympic and Sport Museum J.A. Samaranch (Fundació Barcelona Olímpica), Barcelona, July 2017
"Doing Digital PRC History: The Maoist Legacy Project Database." "New Trends in the Study of the Early People's Republic of China" international workshop, Freiburg, May 2017
"Promoting 'Friendly' Solidarities under Mao: China-Africa Sports Visits in the 1960s." "Imagining Solidarity? China-Africa Encounters in the Aftermath of Decolonization to the Present" (panel organizer), "Afrasian Transformations: Beyond Grand Narratives?" conference, Goethe University Frankfurt, September 2016
"Sports in the People's Republic of China." The Woodrow Wilson's Center's Sport in the Cold War podcast, episode 27, September 2016
"No longer 'sick': Visualizing victorious athletic bodies under Mao." "Visualities-Sports, Bodies, and Visual Sources" conference, Fritz Thyssen Stiftung Cologne, June 2016
"'Develop sport, strengthen the peoples' physiques': Sports and politics under Mao." Guest lecture, Universiteit Leiden, May 2016
"'Develop sport, strengthen the peoples' physiques': Tiyu and the body in Maoist China." Guest lecture, Freie Universität, January 2016
"From Friendly Solidarity to Mao Zedong Thought: Sino-African Sports Delegation Visits, 1962-1966." International Institute for Asian Studies Lunch Lecture, November 2015
"'Friendly Competition': Promoting Chinese socialism to Africans through sport, 1962-1972." "Espaces de la culture chinoise en Afrique: diffusion, agencements, interactions," conference sponsored by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche and Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, held at INALCO, Paris, September 2015
"'Study the advanced experience of the Soviet Union': The Politics of Socialist Athletics in the early PRC." "Spanning and Spinning the Globe," inaugural conference in the Woodrow Wilson Center Cold War International History Project's "The Global History of Sport in the Cold War" in Moscow, May 2015 (invited) (publication forthcoming)
"'Study the advanced experience of the Soviet Union': Sports Exchanges and the 'Ready for Labor and Defense' System in the early PRC." "Knowledge, Power and Prestige: Education in Modern and Contemporary China" workshop, Freie Universität in partnership with Peking University and St. Petersburg State University, October 2014 (invited)
"Charting the Digital in Asian Studies: Promises, Realities, and the Future of Teaching and Research." Co-organizer and participant of roundtable, the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, March 2014
"The Politics of Socialist Athletics in the People's Republic of China: Archival sources." "Reading the Revolution: Locating and Interpreting Sources on 1950s-60s China" workshop, University of Chicago, September 2012 (invited)
"'Scientific' tiyu in the early PRC." European Association of Chinese Studies conference, Paris, September 2012
"From Soviet Kin to Afro-Asian Leader: The PRC and International Sport 1949-1966." "Identity and the Nation in 20th Century Asia" workshop, Jacobs University, Bremen, July 2012
"Gender, Women, and Sport in China." Guest lecture, UC San Diego, March 2012
"Women and Sport in Twentieth Century China." Presented at the International Women's Day Varieté, Beijing, March 2011
"Competitive Socialist Athletes in the People's Republic of China 1955-1965." International Conference on Sport and Society, Vancouver, BC, March 2010
"Elite Competitive Sport in the People's Republic of China 1958-1966: The Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO)." All-California modern Chinese history annual graduate student conference, UC San Diego, May 2009
"The People's Republic of China in Olympic Sports 1958-1966: The Games of the New Emerging Forces." European Association of Chinese Studies XVIIth bi-annual conference, "China Centre Stage", August 8, 2008
"Strengthen the body, strengthen the nation: Modern sports, physical culture, and nation-building in Republican China." Guest lecture: History 140B: Revolutionary China, UC Santa Cruz, February 2007
"Digital Audio and Video: Best practices for capturing, digitizing, archiving and streaming audio and video." Digital History Workshop, Center for History and New Media, October 2005
"Digital Video: Best Practices." Digital History Workshop, Center for History and New Media, June 2005
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Lecturer, Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Freiburg, 2017-present
Undergraduate courses, graduate-level translation seminars, guest lectures. Designed and taught: Women and Gender in Recent Chinese History; Topics in Environmental History of the PRC; Sport in Twentieth Century China; Women, Gender, and the Law in China; Conservation and Regeneration in Recent Chinese History
Expert (invited), Summer School in Sports History, Université de Lausanne, August 2019; August 2021
Hands-on workshops for graduate students in various stages of research and writing.
Teaching Assistant, History Department, UC Santa Cruz, 2006-2009
World War II Memories in the U.S. and Japan (Alan Christy and Alice Yang); Europe 1000-1500 (Nuria Silleras-Fernandez);
Early Modern East Asia (Alan Christy and Minghui Hu); World History 1500-present (Katie Simonton);
Revolutionary China (Gail Hershatter); The Making of Modern East Asia (Alan Christy)
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Academic Editor, The International Journal of the History of Sport, December 2022-present
Book Series Co-editor, RERIS Studies in International Sports Relations, de Gruyter, February 2023-present
Editorial Assistant for Teachinghistory.org, March-September 2012
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
I worked remotely to edit and write new content for teachinghistory.org, a website funded by the U.S. Department of Education that provides K-12 teachers with a clearinghouse of resources related to historical thinking and best practices for teaching U.S. history.
Graduate Student Researcher, 2009-2010
Institute for Humanities Research, UC Santa Cruz
I served as technical coordinator for Eternal Flames: Living Memories of the Pacific War, a project associated with the Center for the Study of Pacific War Memories, UC Santa Cruz. The project received a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Start-up grant based on a proposal I helped write. I also programmed and managed an online funding opportunities database in PHP/MySQL for faculty and students in the humanities.
Webmaster, Web and Multimedia Developer, January 2003-May 2006
Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
I managed all technical aspects for the educational website World History Matters, including editing the audio and video and creating web-based modules, as well as programming and database development for the site in PHP/MySQL. This included extensive use of web media tools, such as Flash, Photoshop, QuickTime, Final Cut Pro and Peak Audio. I also interviewed historians, conducted project research, and assisted in content development. In 2007 the site was awarded the James Harvey Robinson Prize by the American Historical Association for "outstanding contribution to the teaching and learning of history." During my last year, I served as Webmaster, in which I managed an Apache server and a computer lab (both PCs and Macs) and made purchasing decisions for computer hardware and software. Throughout my time at CHNM, I assisted in numerous teacher training workshops funded by Teaching American History grants, trained new research assistants, and helped write grant proposals, including GULAG: Many Days, Many Lives, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
ACTIVITIES & PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
RERIS (Réseaux d'études des relations internationales sportives)
PRC History Resources wiki (Founder and administrator, 2015-present)
DH East Asia Podcast (Founder and host, 2016-2017)
H-Sport (Web editor and Conference Report editor, 2011-2013)
Asia-Pacific-Americas Research Cluster, UCSC (Coordinator; Conference Organizer 2008-2009)
ISHPES(The International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport)
European Association of Chinese Studies
Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC)
LANGUAGES & STUDY ABROAD
English (native), French (fluent), Mandarin (advanced), German (advanced), Spanish (intermediate)
Visiting Senior Student, Beijing Sport University, November 2010-November 2011
Intensive language study, International Chinese Language Program (ICLP), National Taiwan
University,
September 2007-June 2008 (partial scholarship)
Language study, Beijing Language and Culture University, July-August 2005; Liaoning Normal
University, July-August 2006
Pamplin College of Business Study Abroad in Japan and China, Virginia Tech, Summer 2001
I studied applications of global business practices through visits to companies and factories in
Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou, and wrote a final research paper about Japanese women and
the so-called "parasite singles" phenomenon.
PROGRAMMING & NEW MEDIA SKILLS
- Significant experience in web development and database programming on LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) platforms.
- Installation and customization of common applications and tools (e.g., phpMyAdmin, WordPress, Omeka, mediawiki, dokuwiki, etc).
- Server administration of a VPS running Linux CentOS7, including Apache Solr search engine customized for Chinese.
- Experience with various markup and programming languages, database tools, and related software (e.g., XML/XSL, Flash, ColdFusion, ASP, Java, C, VB, Oracle PL/SQL, Access, Filemaker).
- Basic audio and video editing using Audacity and Final Cut Pro.