Professor Dr. Melissa Macauley

Biography

Melissa Macauley (Ph.D. Berkeley, 1993) specializes in late imperial modern Chinese history, focusing on topics interrelated with the history of southeastern China and Southeast Asia, including colonialism and imperialism in East and Southeast Asia, as well as legal culture and Chinese social history. Her recent book, 'Distant Shores: Colonial Encounters China's Maritime Frontier', published by Princeton University Press in 2021, received the Bentley Book Prize from the World History Association in 2022. Another significant work is 'Social Power and Legal Culture: Litigation Masters in Late Imperial China', published by Stanford University Press in 1998. Currently, she is writing a comprehensive history of the South China Sea, tentatively titled 'People’s History of the South China Sea'. Her research has been supported by various prestigious institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. She has been recognized with several teaching awards, highlighting her commitment to educating students in both undergraduate and graduate courses on Chinese, global, and comparative history.

Research Interests

Awards