Dorothy Ko

Dorothy Y. Ko

Professor of History

Department

History, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Office

803 Milstein Center / Office Hours: T 4-6pm

Contact

Dorothy Y. Ko, professor of history, joined the faculty of Barnard in 2001. In addition to her teaching duties for the department of history, she is affiliated with the Barnard Women's. Gender and Sexuality Studies department. Prior to coming to Barnard, she taught at the University of California at San Diego and at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her teaching at Barnard includes such courses as "Gender and Power in China," "Body Histories: The Case of Footbinding," "Chinese Cultural History," "Fashion,"and "Feminisms in China."

Professor Ko is a cultural historian who specializes in gender and body in early modern China. Her current research focuses on women's artistry and skills in textiles, which constitute an alternative knowledge system to male-centered textual scholarship. Her teaching interests also include the history of women and gender in East Asia; feminist theories; and visual and material cultures.

Professor Ko's research and scholarship have been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and the American Council for Learned Socieities. Her book Cinderella's Sisters was awarded the 2006 Joan Kelly Memorial Prize of the American Historical Association for the best work in women's history and/or feminist theory.

B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Stanford University

  • History of China
  • Gender
  • History of science, technology and medicine

The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China (Washington, 2017)

The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory, edited with Lydia H. Liu & Rebecca E. Karl (Columbia, 2013)

Translating Feminisms in China, edited with Z. Wang (Blackwell, 2007)

Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding (University of California Press, 2005)

Every Step a Lotus: Shoes for Bound Feet (University of California Press, 2001)

Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-century China (Stanford University Press, 1994)

In The News

From the art of hand embroidery to foot binding, professor Dorothy Y. Ko illuminates the intricate intersection between gender and body in China for fashion exhibits around the world.

September 2, 2022

The longtime history professor — and newly elected American Academy of Arts & Sciences member — on her quest to illuminate unexplored truths.

 

May 24, 2022

For AAPI Heritage Month (May), Barnard professors educate us on the remarkable contributions of lesser-known Asian American women from history.

May 7, 2021