Dr Hansun Hsiung

Biography	Hansun Hsiung combines methods from media history, book history, and the history of science to address fundamental problems in the global history of knowledge. His research to date has centered on the construction of "communicability," in particular tracing the transformation of print networks between Japan and western Europe, ca. 1750-1900, as outlined in his contribution to the New Cambridge History of Japan, volume 2. In addition to a book manuscript, Learn Anything!: Cheap Print and the Diffusion of Western Knowledge, he has edited numerous special issues and thematic sections of for major journals concerning topics such as the temporality of knowledge production, intersensoriality and gender in science, and the emergence of concepts of 'modern science' in East Asia. Articles on other various topics -- including scientific 'popularization' in a global context and breast cancer surgery in early modern Japan, have appeared in journals such as Isis, Osiris, PMLA, and Contemporary Japan. His two current main projects concern the history of AI and "information society" in Japan, and the global history of "thoughtography" as a fringe science. Hansun earned his BA from Yale and PhD from Harvard. Prior to his arrival at Durham, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Department II of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and a visiting lecturer in the Department of Music and Media Studies at Humboldt University (Berlin). His research has received support from the American Historical Association, the Association for Asian Studies, the Fulbright Program, and the Mellon Foundation.
Research Interests	history of science global history history of the book media studies history of medicine history of technology
Teaching and Learning	I teach survey courses on Japanese culture history and the history of Japanese science and technology, in addition to various roles on MAs in Language & Literature as well as translation.
PhD Supervision Availability	Yes
PhD Topics	history of science, history of medicine, history of technology in East Asia