Research Interests
History of popular participation in modern sporting culture. Catholicism in twentieth century China. Representation and historical narrative in popular video games.
Education
Ph.D., East Asian History, University of Texas at Austin, 2011
M.A., Chinese Studies, University of Sheffield, 2003
B.A., History and English Literature, University College Cork, 2002
Experience
Associate Professor, Centre College, 2019-
Assistant Professor, Centre College, 2013-2019
Visiting Assistant Professor, DePaul University, 2011-2013
Selected Written Work
“All-Stars, Amateurs and Acrimony: Gene Doyle’s 1920 Tour,” In: Robert Fitts (ed.), Tours of Japan (tentative title). Society for American Baseball Research (2022).
“Wolfenstein: Youngblood’s impossible 80s setting makes you want to save the world.” Rock Paper Shotgun, 8th January 2020.
Empire of Infields: Baseball in Taiwan and Cultural Identity, 1895-1968. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press (2019).
“China might be able to help with North Korea - but only if President Trump switches tactics”, Made by History (Washington Post), 1st January 2018.
“An American Adventure: The American Vincentians in Jiangxi before 1949,” US Catholic Historian, 34:2, 2016.
”Enshrining the Mission: The Bishop Sheehan Memorial Museum and Vincentian Visions of China,” American Catholic Studies 126.3, Fall 2015.
“Vincentian Missionaries in Jiangxi Province: Extending an American Catholic Community to China, 1921-1951.” In: Cindy Yik-yi Chu (ed.), Catholicism in China, 1900-Present. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
“Youth Baseball and Colonial Identity in Taiwan, 1920-1968”, NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, 22:1, Fall 2013.
Selected Conference Talks
“Oh Sadaharu: A Japanese Baseball Legend in the Cold War.” NINE Baseball History and Culture Spring Conference, 2020. Tempe, AZ.
“The Limits of a Proposed Chinese Solution to the United States’ North Korea Problem.” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, 2018. Washington, DC.
“Video Games as Sources, Tools… History?” American Historical Association Annual Meeting 2016. Atlanta, GA.
“The American Vincentians in China, 1923-1951: Obligation, Adventure and Revolutions.” US Catholic China Bureau Biannual Meeting 2015. San Francisco, CA.
“White “foreigners” and Asian Masters: the Rise of International eSports in Historical Context.” Northeastern Popular Culture Association, Annual Meeting 2013. Colchester, VT.
Digital Research and Pedagogy
History Respawned
Centre Trail
Selected Classes Taught
Creating the Orient
History Bots
Popular Sport and the Modern World
Spirits, Gods and Ghosts of East Asia
Language Skills
Chinese
Japanese
C#
Python