Adam Clulow

Adam Clulow is a Professor of History in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in early modern Asian history. His research focuses on the transnational circulation of ideas, people, practices, and commodities across East and Southeast Asia, with particular expertise in Dutch-Japanese relations during the Tokugawa period and maritime Asian history.

Clulow earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2008 and has established himself as a leading scholar through his award-winning publications and innovative digital humanities projects. He teaches courses including Piracy in East Asia (ANS 341C/HIS 368C) and The Age of the Samurai (ANS 361Q/HIS 368S), with offerings scheduled through Fall 2025.

His research interests center on early modern Asian history, particularly the interactions between European trading companies and Asian polities, maritime networks, and cross-cultural encounters. Clulow has pioneered the application of digital tools to historical research and education through projects like Virtual Angkor, which recreates the Cambodian metropolis at the height of the Khmer Empire, and the Amboyna Conspiracy Trial, an interactive digital recreation of a famous 17th century legal case.

Clulow's publications reveal a consistent focus on transnational connections in early modern Asia, with significant attention to Dutch colonial activities, Tokugawa Japan, and legal history. His work demonstrates an increasing integration of digital methodologies with traditional historical research, reflecting his commitment to innovation in both scholarship and pedagogy.

• Jerry Bentley Book Prize for World History (American Historical Association)
• International Convention of Asia Scholars Humanities Book Prize (2015)
• American Historical Association's Roy Rosenzweig Prize for Innovation in Digital History (2019)
• Medieval Academy of America's Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Prize (2021)
• Dan David Prize (2023) - described as the largest history prize in the world
• Herbert Feis Award for distinguished contributions to Public History (2023)

Clulow has received research support from prestigious organizations including the American Council of Learned Societies, the Australian Research Council, the Fung Global Fellows Program at Princeton University, the Japan Foundation, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He founded the History Games Initiative at UT Austin, working with students to develop educational video games like Ako: A Tale of Loyalty and Ghosts over the Water. As editor of Not Even Past, a public history magazine receiving approximately one million page views annually, Clulow has made significant contributions to public history engagement.

He leads several major projects including Virtual Angkor (recreating the Cambodian metropolis around 1300), the Amboyna Conspiracy Trial (an interactive digital history project), and JapanLab (integrating Digital Humanities across Japanese Studies curriculum). His History Games Initiative has created a pipeline for developing historically accurate video games for educational use in high schools and universities.