Guo Jue

A social and cultural historian of pre-modern China, she specializes in the pre- and early imperial periods (ca. 2000 BCE-220 CE), with a geographical focus on central-southern China. Her scholarly work lies at the intersection of history and archaeology, integrating written sources and material records. Her broad research interests include regional history, identity formation, social memory, environment and historical ecology, history writing, and ritual practices. View her publications here.

In her research and her teaching, she aims to problematize prevalent historical narratives—from the origin of Chinese civilization to the rise of a unified empire to the birth of the Chinese nation—and engage a deep-history approach to investigate the local and reimagine the global. Her courses at Bowdoin include China before 1000, Becoming China (1000-1911), Death in Ancient China, and Unearthing China: National History and Chinese Archaeology in the 20th Century.