Kyoungjin Bae joined the Department of History in Spring 2019. As a historian of late imperial China, she is interested in understanding Chinese history from the perspectives of Eurasian connections, the history of science and technology, and visual and material culture. Prior to joining Kenyon, Kyoungjin held two postdoctoral fellowships at the Liberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan and at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. She is currently working on her first book manuscript, titled "The Flowing Mechanism: Furniture, Craft, and Knowledge in Sino-European Exchanges, 1700-1850."
Areas of Expertise
Late imperial China, the history of science and technology, visual and material culture, early modern
Sino-European exchanges, global history.
Education
2016 — Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University
2012 — Master of Arts from Columbia University
2006 — Bachelor of Arts from Yonsei Univ, Seoul, Korea
Courses Recently Taught
HIST 160
Modern East Asia
HIST 160
The arrival of the Portuguese ships off the coasts of China and Japan in the 16th century, followed by other European merchants, turned East Asia into a major theater of events shaping the emerging modern age. This course examines the sources and dynamics of change -- social, economic, geopolitical, and cultural -- in the local and intramural arenas of East Asia as its economies and peoples became entangled in the rise and expansion of Euro-American imperial enterprises. The changes were violent and transformative, leaving deep impressions. Local understandings of past events continue to animate domestic politics and regional relations in the global competition for survival today. Focusing on China, Korea and Japan (acknowledging that the Philippines was the first real European colony in East Asia, and Vietnam the second), the class explores the processes of becoming modern for individuals, state and the region, and the diverse interpretations of those processes. This counts toward the modern and colonial/imperial requirement for the major and the modern requirement for the minor. Offered every or every other year.
HIST 161
East Asia to 1800
HIST 161
This course focuses on China, Korea and Japan before the rise of European maritime dominance (from the 16th century on), and the region's role in the early globalization of world exchange. East Asia emerged as a coherent cultural area in the first millennium CE, with the introduction and spread of Buddhism, a religion whose faith and associated practices profoundly stamped the physical and human landscape of the region. Significant shifts in the 12th to 18th centuries CE highlight the Confucianization of family, gender, politics and kingship during these later centuries. The Mongol and Manchu conquests of the 13th and 17th centuries mark key transition points in this process, as well as in shaping regional and global relationships of exchange. This counts toward the premodern requirement for the major and minor. No prerequisite. Offered every other year.
HIST 352
Family and State in East Asia
HIST 352
What is a family and how has it changed? This course examines the evolution of family and kinship in East Asia; its impact on gender norms and the lives of men, women, and children; and why these things mattered to political authorities (the state). It focuses on the striking variations of family and household structures and dynamics over the last millennium in China, Japan, and Korea, mainly. A society’s economic and political underpinnings, religious traditions, and legal norms shape and are shaped by practices of sex, marriage, child-rearing and inheritance. Students will explore these universal concerns through a rich body of materials, including written texts, art, architecture, artifacts of visual and material culture, along with abundant current scholarship that encourages an evaluation of East Asian experience in a global framework. No previous knowledge of East Asia assumed or required. This counts toward the premodern requirement for the major and minor. Offered every two or three years.
HIST 387
Practice and Theory of History
HIST 387
This course focuses on the conceptual frameworks used by historians and on debates within the profession about the nature of the past and the best way to write about it. The seminar prepares students of history to be productive researchers, insightful readers and effective writers. The seminar is required for history majors and should be completed before the senior year. Open only to sophomores and juniors.This counts toward the practice and theory requirement for the major. Prerequisite: history or international studies major or permission of instructor.
HIST 391
ST: History of Science & Tech
HIST 391
HIST 391
ST: Environmental Hist E Asia
HIST 391