Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
E-mail:
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
Cohort Year:
2008
First Field:
Asia-China
Second Field:
World History
Thematic Emphasis:
20th-century cultural history; urban history
Advisor:
Jeff Wasserstrom
Dissertation Title:
“Shanghai’s Wandering Ones: A Social and Cultural History of Child Poverty, 1900-1960”
Bio Statement:
I came to UCI because I wanted to study history and write about China, and for my money there's no better place to do these two things. The history I study is of 20th-century Chinese cities, particularly Shanghai, and the popular culture that they fostered. My dissertation project looks at the work of cartoonist Zhang Leping, creator of "Sanmao the Orphan," a comic strip that began running in the 1930s and appeared, off and on, until Zhang's death in 1992. At UCI, I've found a group of faculty and graduate students with an interest in writing for wide audiences and I've benefitted immensely from this supportive environment. I serve as Editor of "The China Beat," a blog founded by Jeff Wasserstrom, Ken Pomeranz, and Kate Merkel-Hess, and I also write for a variety of print and online publications. During the 2011-2012 academic year, I am a Fellow at the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York.
Selected Publications:
- Asia Society Fellow, 2011-2012; contributor to the LA Review of Books, Ms. Magazine online, Forbes.com, Dissent, Asian Review of Books, and World History Connected.
Degrees:
- Graduate Certificate, Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies, 2008
- M.A., Yale University, 2006
- B.A., Saint Joseph's University, 2004
