Dorothy Y. Ko
Department
Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History
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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," "Feast and Famine: Food and Environment in China," "Fashion," and "Feminisms in China."
Professor Ko is a cultural historian who specializes in gender, art, and technology in early modern China. Her current research focuses on ecological farming in China. 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 Societies. 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. Her recent monograph, The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China, was a finalist of the Morley Book Award of the College Art Association. She is an elected life member of the Academia Sinica and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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.
The longtime history professor — and newly elected American Academy of Arts & Sciences member — on her quest to illuminate unexplored truths.
For AAPI Heritage Month (May), Barnard professors educate us on the remarkable contributions of lesser-known Asian American women from history.