I am an Associate Professor of History at Centre College, a small liberal arts college (SLAC) in the Bluegrass region of central Kentucky. My research focuses on the history of East Asia in the twentieth century, particularly in the evolution of cultural communities in colonial, post-colonial and post-imperial societies in China and Taiwan in the interwar period. I am the author of Empire of Infields: Baseball in Taiwan and Cultural Identity, 1895-1968, and have published research on youth baseball in colonial Taiwan and American Catholic missionaries living in rural China during the Republican period (1911-1949).

My interest in cultural history also extends to video games, particularly in the rise of “esports” and the influence of historical events and dynamics on the storytelling, settings and themes of popular video games. I am associate editor of History Respawned, a video series created by Dr. Robert Whitaker that invites historians to discuss video games in historical context and as texts in their own right.

I received my BA in History and English from University College Cork, an MA in Chinese Studies from the University of Sheffield and a PhD in History from the University of Texas at Austin.

You can find my CV here. If you’d like to get in touch, you can say hello on twitter at @profjohnharney or look me up on my faculty page at Centre.