Faculty Profile
Evan Young
Assistant Professor of History (2015)
Contact Information
Denny Hall Room 102
717-254-8170
Bio
W. Evan Young is a historian of medicine and science who also specializes in East Asian Studies. He teaches courses on the history of illness and therapy, the history of East Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), and the history of gender and sexuality. His first book project, Family at the Bedside: Illness, Healing, and Knowledge in Early Modern Japan, explores how families dealt with ailments in eighteenth and nineteenth century Japan. His second major research project traces the history of medical knowledge in popular print, especially women’s magazines, from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. His work has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Prange Collection and Miller Center for Historical Studies, and the D. Kim Foundation for the History of Science and Technology in East Asia.
Education
- B.A., St. Olaf College, 2005
- Ph.D., Princeton University, 2015
2023-2024 Academic Year
Fall 2023
EASN 120 History of East Asia
Cross-listed with HIST 120-01.
HIST 120 History of East Asia
Cross-listed with EASN 120-01.
EASN 206 The Rise of Modern China
Cross-listed with HIST 275-01.
HIST 275 The Rise of Modern China
Cross-listed with EASN 206-01.
WGSS 302 Gend/Sex in Mod Japanese Hist
Cross-listed with EASN 306-01 and HIST 317-01. This course is an exploration of how sexuality and gender have been continually redefined and experienced throughout modern Japanese history. We will analyze the changes Japanese society underwent from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to transformations as well as continuities in eroticism, same-sex love, family structure, and gender roles. A key theme of the course is the socially-constructed nature of gender norms and how women and men frequently transgressed feminine and masculine ideals, a theme that we will explore through both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship. Building upon in-class workshops and a series of short-essay assignments, the final goal of the course will be to produce a paper that analyzes the development of this new and exciting field of history.
EASN 306 Gend/Sex in Mod Japanese Hist
Cross-listed with HIST 317-01 and WGSS 302-01. This course is an exploration of how sexuality and gender have been continually redefined and experienced throughout modern Japanese history. We will analyze the changes Japanese society underwent from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to transformations as well as continuities in eroticism, same-sex love, family structure, and gender roles. A key theme of the course is the socially-constructed nature of gender norms and how women and men frequently transgressed feminine and masculine ideals, a theme that we will explore through both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship. Building upon in-class workshops and a series of short-essay assignments, the final goal of the course will be to produce a paper that analyzes the development of this new and exciting field of history.
HIST 317 Gend/Sex in Mod Japanese Hist
Cross-listed with EASN 306-01 and WGSS 302-01. This course is an exploration of how sexuality and gender have been continually redefined and experienced throughout modern Japanese history. We will analyze the changes Japanese society underwent from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to transformations as well as continuities in eroticism, same-sex love, family structure, and gender roles. A key theme of the course is the socially-constructed nature of gender norms and how women and men frequently transgressed feminine and masculine ideals, a theme that we will explore through both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship. Building upon in-class workshops and a series of short-essay assignments, the final goal of the course will be to produce a paper that analyzes the development of this new and exciting field of history.
HIST 500 War and Society in Early China
Spring 2024
HIST 204 Intro Historical Methodology
Local archives and libraries serve as laboratories for this project-oriented seminar that introduces beginning majors to the nature of history as a discipline, historical research techniques, varied forms of historical evidence and the ways in which historians interpret them, and the conventions of historical writing.
Prerequisite: one previous course in history.
EASN 206 Medicine & The Body - E. Asia
Cross-listed with HIST 217-01. This course is an introduction to the history of medicine in East Asia. We will begin by exploring the theoretical and practical underpinnings of classical Chinese medicine, which was the foundation of healing practices in premodern China, Korea, and Japan. We will then move on to trace the introduction of modern bio-medicine and the eventual reemergence of "Traditional Chinese Medicine" as an alternative style of therapy in the 20th century. We will also consider a wide range of topics that have generated compelling intellectual dialogue, including the relationship between doctors and patients and between medicine and the state.
HIST 217 Medicine & The Body - E. Asia
Cross-listed with EASN 206-01. This course is an introduction to the history of medicine in East Asia. We will begin by exploring the theoretical and practical underpinnings of classical Chinese medicine, which was the foundation of healing practices in premodern China, Korea, and Japan. We will then move on to trace the introduction of modern bio-medicine and the eventual reemergence of "Traditional Chinese Medicine" as an alternative style of therapy in the 20th century. We will also consider a wide range of topics that have generated compelling intellectual dialogue, including the relationship between doctors and patients and between medicine and the state.
WGSS 302 Gend/Sex in Mod Japanese Hist
Cross-listed with EASN 306-01 and HIST 317-01. This course is an exploration of how sexuality and gender have been continually redefined and experienced throughout modern Japanese history. We will analyze the changes Japanese society underwent from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to transformations as well as continuities in eroticism, same-sex love, family structure, and gender roles. A key theme of the course is the socially-constructed nature of gender norms and how women and men frequently transgressed feminine and masculine ideals, a theme that we will explore through both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship. Building upon in-class workshops and a series of short-essay assignments, the final goal of the course will be to produce a paper that analyzes the development of this new and exciting field of history.
EASN 306 Gend/Sex in Mod Japanese Hist
Cross-listed with HIST 317-01 and WGSS 302-03. This course is an exploration of how sexuality and gender have been continually redefined and experienced throughout modern Japanese history. We will analyze the changes Japanese society underwent from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to transformations as well as continuities in eroticism, same-sex love, family structure, and gender roles. A key theme of the course is the socially-constructed nature of gender norms and how women and men frequently transgressed feminine and masculine ideals, a theme that we will explore through both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship. Building upon in-class workshops and a series of short-essay assignments, the final goal of the course will be to produce a paper that analyzes the development of this new and exciting field of history.
HIST 317 Gend/Sex in Mod Japanese Hist
Cross-listed with EASN 306-01 and WGSS 302-03. This course is an exploration of how sexuality and gender have been continually redefined and experienced throughout modern Japanese history. We will analyze the changes Japanese society underwent from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to transformations as well as continuities in eroticism, same-sex love, family structure, and gender roles. A key theme of the course is the socially-constructed nature of gender norms and how women and men frequently transgressed feminine and masculine ideals, a theme that we will explore through both primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship. Building upon in-class workshops and a series of short-essay assignments, the final goal of the course will be to produce a paper that analyzes the development of this new and exciting field of history.