College:
St. John’s College
Supervisor:
Professor Tian Yuan Tan
Biography:
Sophie specialises in the history of women and material culture in early modern East Asia, with a focus on women’s literary and artistic practices in China from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Her DPhil project concerns the reading of illustrated didactic books and the moral education of women in early modern China and Japan. In addition to illustrated books, she is also interested in textile crafts, and her master’s project explored the production and literary representations of hair embroidery in Ming-Qing China. Before joining Oxford, Sophie was a teaching assistant for modern Chinese and for the course Chinese Women in Myth, Literature, and Film at George Washington University in Washington DC. At Oxford, she co-convenes the Pre-Modern History of East Asia Seminar. When not lost in old books and footnotes, she enjoys doing embroidery and oil painting, and volunteers with the Ashmolean Museum’s Eastern Art Department.
Research Interests:
Women in early modern East Asia; women’s literary and artistic practices; print culture and history of the book; gender and material culture in premodern East Asia
Educational Background:
MPhil in Traditional East Asia, University of Oxford
MA in Chinese Language and Culture, The George Washington University
BA in Chinese Language and Literature, University of Hong Kon
