Cynthia Brokaw

Cynthia Brokaw is the Chen Family Professor of China Studies, Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Brown University. A historian of early modern China, she specializes in social history and the history of the book. Brokaw received her Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University in 1984, her M.A. in East Asian Regional Studies from Harvard in 1974, and her B.A. in History from Wellesley College in 1972. She joined Brown University in 2009 as Professor of History, was appointed Chen Family Professor in Chinese Studies in 2015, and Professor of East Asian Studies in 2021. Prior appointments include Professor of History at The Ohio State University (2006–2009) and Associate Professor there (2001–2006), Associate Professor of History at the University of Oregon (1991–2001) and Assistant Professor there (1987–1991), and Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University (1984–1987). She teaches courses including Chinese Political Thought from Confucius to Xi Jinping, Imperial China: Culture and Legacy, Women and Gender Relations in China, China's Early Modern Empires, and the History of the Book in the Early Modern World.

Brokaw's research centers on late imperial Chinese history (ca. 1400–1900), particularly print culture, commercial woodblock publishing, book trade networks, and the dissemination of texts to non-elites in the late Ming and Qing dynasties. Her major monographs are The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit: Social Change and Moral Order in Late Imperial China (Princeton University Press, 1991) and Commerce in Culture: The Sibao Book Trade in the Qing and Republican Periods (Harvard University Asia Center, 2007), the latter drawing on extensive field and archival work in southeastern China. She has co-edited Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China (University of California Press, 2005) with Kai-wing Chow, From Woodblocks to the Internet: Chinese Publishing and Print Culture in Transition, circa 1800 to 2008 (Brill, 2010) with Christopher Reed, The History of the Book in East Asia (Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2013) with Peter Kornicki, and Publishing for Daily Life in Early Modern East Asia (Lingua Franca 6, 2020) with Joan Judge. Among her honors are the National Humanities Center Fellowship (2012–2013), National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers (1995), American Council of Learned Societies Mellon Fellowship (1986–1987), and Individual Award for Achievement in Printing History, American Printing History Association (2015–2016). Her scholarship has advanced the field of Chinese book history and its implications for social and political developments.

Professional Email: cynthia_brokaw@brown.edu