Valerie Hansen is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

Career

After graduating from Kent School in 1975,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1979 and receiving her doctorate from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

in 1987, she joined Yale University in 1988 as assistant professor and became a professor in 1998. Hansen spent one year in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

on a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

grant from 2005–06; 2008–09 and 2011–12, teaching at Yale's joint undergraduate program with

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...

; and fall semester 2015 teaching at Yale-NUS college in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Her current research examines the interconnected world of the year 1000. At Yale, she teaches History of Traditional China, The History of World History, and seminars on

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and rel ...

history.

Works

Hansen's first book was ''Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1279'', which was published in 1990. Her second book, ''Negotiating Daily Life in Traditional China, 600-1400'', appeared in 1995. In 2000, she published, ''The Open Empire''. A second edition of the book was published in 2015. The book argues, contrary to the widespread view that no outsiders ever influenced traditional China, that Indian Buddhists and northern nomadic peoples shaped traditional China throughout its long history. In 2012, Hansen published ''The Silk Road: A New History'', which argued that the Silk Road trade was small-scale and usually involved local goods. The book received rave reviews from critics. In April 2020, ''The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization Began'' was published to mixed reviews''.''

Bibliography

*''Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1279'' (1990) *''Negotiating Daily Life in Traditional China'' (1995) *''The Silk Road: A New History'' (2012) *''The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600'' (2000) *''Voyages in World History'' (co-authored with Kenneth R. Curtis) ** First Edition (2005) **Second Edition (2008) **Third Edition (2015) * ''The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization Began'' (2020)

Awards and honors

*2013 - Gustav Ranis International Book Prize, co-winner, for the best book on an international subject by a member of the Yale University faculty *2013 - International Convention of Asia Scholars Book Prize Reading Committee Accolade for the best teaching tool in the Humanities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Valerie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American historians Harvard University alumni Kent School alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Yale University faculty 21st-century American women writers American women historians Writers about globalization