Joseph W. Ho
Associate Professor of History
East Asian History
Office: Robinson Hall 208
Phone: (517) 629-0233
Email: jho@albion.edu
Personal Website: josephweiho.com
Education
- 2017 Ph.D., University of Michigan (History)
- 2012 M.A., University of Michigan (History)
- 2009 B.A., University of California San Diego (East Asian History, Honors with Highest Distinction)
Courses
- East Asia: Culture and Civilization
- Visualizing East Asia
- Modern China
- Asian American History
- Saints and Sinners: Histories of Christianity in China
- World War II in the Pacific
- STEM in East Asian History
- (Honors) American Encounters with China
Scholarly Activity
Publications
Books
- Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China (Cornell University Press, 2021)
- War and Occupation in China: The Letters of an American Missionary from Hangzhou, 1937-1938, co-edited with Charles Bright (Lehigh University Press, 2017)
Book Chapters
- “Moving Visions: 16mm Filmmaking as Transnational Missionary Apparatus in Twentieth Century East Asia,” in Sixteen at 100: Histories of a Radical Film Format, Gregory A. Waller and Haidee Wasson, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2023)
- “Visual Culture: The Convergence of Transnational Images,” in Visions of Salvation: Chinese Christian Posters in an Age of Revolution, Daryl R. Ireland, ed. (Baylor University Press, 2023)
- “Imaging Missions, Visualizing Experience: American Presbyterian Photography, Filmmaking, and Chinese Christianity in Interwar Republican China,” in China’s Christianity: From Mission to Indigenous Church, Anthony E. Clark ed. (Brill Publishers, 2017)
Selected Articles
- “Between Frames: Missionary Film, Visual Afterlives, and Sino-US Encounters,” The Journal of eMedia Studies, 7, no. 1 (2023), forthcoming
- “Facing History: Strategies for Teaching Chinese and World History with Memoirs,” coauthored with Kristin Stapleton (University at Buffalo, SUNY), Education About Asia, 25, no. 2 (Fall 2020)
- “Outside the Box: Teaching East Asian History with Multimedia Approaches, Technological Artifacts, and Performative Activities,” co-authored with Paul G. Pickowicz (UC San Diego), Jenny Huangfu Day (Skidmore College), and Ya Zuo (Bowdoin College), Education About Asia, 24, no. 3 (Winter 2019): 47-50
Selected Invited Talks
- “Visualizing Nostalgia: Postwar China, Missionary Imaging, and Memories of the Future,” Duke University (March 2023)
- “Envisioning Encounters: Missionary Filmmaking as Transnational Documentary in Twentieth Century China,” Global China Humanities Lecture Series, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (March 2023)
- “At Vision’s Edge: Modern China and American Encounters in Lost Photographs and Film,” Central Michigan University (February 2023)
- “Framing Futurity: Photography, Religious Diaspora, and Transnational Imaginations of Cold War Taiwan,” Taiwan Studies Program, University of Nottingham (October 2022)
- “Missionary Cameras and Modern China in Global Imaginations,” 21st Century China Center, University of California, San Diego (May 2022)
- “Imaging History, Historicizing Images: Transnational Visualities in Cold War Taiwan,” Center for Taiwan Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara (April 2022)
Current Research Projects
- Bamboo Wireless: Mediating the Cold War in Asia (book manuscript in preparation)
- Time Exposures: Catholic Photography and the Evolution of Modern China, co-authored with Anthony E. Clark (under contract, Hong Kong University Press)
Research Interests
- Modern China and Taiwan
- Cultural and Transnational History
- Global Visual Culture
- Sino-US Histories
- Christianity in China
- Histories of Photography and Filmmaking
- History of Technology
Selected Awards
- Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Scholar of the Year, Albion College (2022)
- Domestic Travel Grant, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco (2019)
- Henry Luce Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco (2017)
- David M. Stowe Fellowship for Mission Research, Yale University Divinity School (2017)
- Doris G. Quinn Foundation Fellowship in History (2017)
- Rackham Humanities Dissertation Fellowship, University of Michigan (2015-2016)
- Frederick B. Artz Summer Research Grant, Oberlin College Archives (2012, 2015)
- Lieberthal Family Fellowship, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan (2015)
- Albert Feuerwerker and Ernest P. Young Fellowship, University of Michigan (2014)
- Rackham Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of Michigan (2013)
- Rackham Merit Fellowship, University of Michigan (2010-2016)
Selected Media Coverage
- Article by Cynthia Mwenja, “Sharing East Asian History via Human Experience at Albion College,” in Private University News and Products
- Interview on Developing Mission with Emily Conroy-Krutz, Authors in Conversation podcast, Cornell University Press
- Interview on Developing Mission with Jeremy Salkeld, AskHistorians podcast
- Interview on Developing Mission with Linshan Jiang, New Books Network
- Interview with Anthony E. Clark for “Christianity in China: Recollections on the Field by Prominent Scholars,” China Christianity Studies Group and Whitworth University Harriet Cheney Cowles Memorial Library “China Christian Missions Collection”
- Article by Jennifer Lin, “A Lens on China,” in Bucknell Magazine, Bucknell University