Dong Yuting
董钰婷
program
Regional Studies - East Asia
Field of Study
Years of Stay at HYI
Aug 2012 to Jun 2014
University Affiliation (Current)
University of Chicago
University Affiliation
Harvard University
As a historian of modern Japan and East Asia, I am interested in questions on colonialism, history of labor and expertise, and environmental history. Currently, I am finishing a manuscript on Japan’s infrastructure empire, which explores how Japanese colonial officials obtained knowledge and honed their technological skills from interacting with various local intermediaries and laborers and how the former appropriated the latter’s knowledge to ground their imperial dominance in what historically referred to as Manchuria. By reading infrastructure as archives, this manuscript sheds light on those interactions that were often hidden in colonial archives.
I am also working on a second project that examines the commodification and politicization of air in Japan’s colonial empire.
Recent Publications
Flagstone empire: Materiality and technical expertise in Japanese road construction in northeast China (1905–1945).” Modern Asian Studies, 57(3), 2023.
“Red Brick Imperialism: How Vernacular Knowledge Shaped Japanese Colonial Expertise in Northeast China, 1905–45.” Technology and Culture, 63(1), 2022.
“Manchukuo voices: Re-interpreting a monumental space in Northeast China (1932–1945).” International Journal of Asian Studies, 20(1), 2021.
Interested in becoming a Harvard-Yenching Institute fellow or scholar?
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