Dorothy Ko (; born 1957) is a Chinese historian. She is a professor of history and
women's studies
Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
at
Barnard College
Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...
of
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
.
She is a historian of early modern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, known for her multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional research. As a historian of early modern China, she has endeavored to engage with the field of modern China studies; as a China scholar, she has always positioned herself within the study of women and gender and applied feminist approaches in her work; as a historian, she has ventured across disciplinary boundaries, into fields that include literature, visual and material culture, science and technology, as well as studies of fashion, the body and sexuality.
Prior to joining the faculty of Barnard and Columbia, Ko has taught at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
and at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
. Ko's research has been supported by the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...
and the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
, Princeton, among others. She was named a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 2022.
Education
Ko received her secondary education at
Queen Elizabeth School, Hong Kong. She then went to the United States to attend
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, where she earned her
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
(B.A.) in
international relations
International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
in 1978, her
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
(M.A.) in history in 1979, and her
Ph.D. in history in 1989.
Career
Ko began her career as an
assistant professor
Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
of history at
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...
from 1989 to 1990. She then taught history at
Temple University, Japan Campus
Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) is an international campus of Temple University (located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States). TUJ is located in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo and Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. It is the oldest and largest fore ...
in 1991 before teaching at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
from 1991 to 1995. After being promoted to
associate professor
Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''.
In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...
in 1996, she taught at
Rutgers University–New Brunswick
Rutgers University–New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campu ...
until 2001, when she was inducted into the Department of History at her current institution,
Barnard College
Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...
as a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the history of the body, gender and writing, and visual and material cultures in China, including Gender and Power in China, Feminisms in China, and Body Histories: The Case of Footbinding.
Historiography
Influences
Ko's academic interests and conceptual organization of her scholarship bore significant influence from the works of two historians:
Joan Scott and
Caroline Walker Bynum
Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA (born May 10, 1941, in Atlanta, Georgia)[Caroline Walker Bynum short CV](_blank)
at < ...
. Ko utilized Scott's delineation of gender to establish a theoretical foundation in her explication of the gender experiences and identities of elite women in seventeenth-century China as subjective constructs and later, in her deconstruction of footbinding as a gendered practice.
Caroline Walker Bynum
Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA (born May 10, 1941, in Atlanta, Georgia)[Caroline Walker Bynum short CV](_blank)
at < ...
's examination of the relationships between women's conceptualization of their bodies and its theological and spiritual position has inspired Ko to problematize the experiences of women in late imperial China with their bodies, especially in terms of footbinding.
Works
Books
As author
* ''Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China'' (Stanford University Press, 1994)
* ''Every Step a Lotus: Shoes for Bound Feet'' (University of California Press, 2001)
* ''Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding'' (University of California Press, 2005). This book was awarded the 2006 Joan Kelley Memorial Prize from the American Historical Association for the Best Book on Women's History or Feminist Theory.
*''The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China'' (University of Washington Press, 2017). This book was nominated as a finalist for the 2018 Charles Rufus Morey Book Award by the College Art Association.
As editor
* ''Women and Confucian Cultures in Pre-modern China, Korea, and Japan'' (University of California Press, 2003), co-edited by Ko,
JaHyun Kim Haboush, and
Joan R. Piggott
* ''The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory'' (Columbia University Press, 2013), co-edited by Ko,
Lydia Liu and Rebecca Karl
* ''Making the Palace Machine Work: Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire'' (Amsterdam University Press, 2021), co-edited by Ko, Martina Siebert, and Kaijun Chen
Articles
* "Pursuing Talent and Virtue: Education and Women’s Culture in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century China." Late Imperial China 13, no. 1 (June 1992): 9–39. https://doi.org/10.1353/late.1992.0002.
* "Kongjian Yujia: Lunmingwei Qingchu Funǚde Shenghuo Kongjian." ''Jindai zhongguo funǚ shiyanjiu'', no. 3 (August 1995): 21–50. https://doi.org/10.6352/mhwomen.199508.0021.
* "Bondage in Time: Footbinding and Fashion Theory." ''Fashion Theory'' 1, no. 1 (February 1997): 3–27. https://doi.org/10.2752/136270497779754552.
* "The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeenth-Century China." ''Journal of Women’s History'' 8, no. 4 (December 1997): 8–27. https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2010.0171.
* "Footbinding in the Museum." ''Interventions: International Studies of Postcolonial Studies'' 5, no. 3 (July 2003): 426–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801032000135657.
* "R. H. van Gulik, Mi Fu, and Connoisseurship of Chinese Art." ''Hanxue Yanjiu'' 30, no. 2 (June 2012): 265–96.
References
External links
curriculum vitae of Barnard facultyDorothy Ko papers- Pembroke Center, Brown University
University of California Press announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ko, Dorothy Y
Living people
21st-century American historians
Historians of the United States
Stanford University alumni
Columbia University faculty
American academics of women's studies
American women historians
Feminist historians
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences