Dr. Jennifer Altehenger

Biography

Jennifer Altehenger is an Associate Professor of Chinese History at the University of Oxford and a Jessica Rawson Fellow in Modern Asian History at Merton College. Prior to joining Oxford, she was a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese History at King's College London and a Wang Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Her research focuses on the material culture and design in China, especially during the World War II era, exploring how the country became a major furniture producer and a global manufacturer. Altehenger's work encompasses the interactions between material environments and the people's lives across different regions. She is the author of the book 'Socialism of Design: Mass-Produced Furniture Modernized China,' set for publication by Princeton University Press. She has also co-edited volumes addressing China’s socio-political changes and the interplay between art and materiality during Mao's China. Currently, she teaches various courses on history and Chinese historiography and supervises DPhil students in topics related to twentieth-century Chinese history, comparative transnational history, and state socialism.

Research Interests

Experience