Michael Marme

Michael Marme is a tenured Assistant Professor of History at Fordham University, based at the Lincoln Center campus. He specializes in socio-economic and urban history of late imperial China, particularly the city of Suzhou. His research explores the interplay between economic systems and cultural dynamics in pre-modern China, with implications for understanding contemporary China's socio-economic structures. Marme's work has been recognized nationally and internationally, including his award-winning monograph Suzkou: Where the Goods of all the Provinces Converge (Stanford, 2005).

Education:

• PhD in History, University of California, Berkeley (1987)
• MA in History, University of California, Berkeley (1976)
• BA in History, University College, University of Toronto (1974)

Research Interests: Marme’s scholarship focuses on the socio-economic transformations in Suzhou from the Ming dynasty to the 19th century, emphasizing commodity networks, urbanization, and environmental history. His current work examines how pre-modern socio-economic models inform modern China’s non-liberal economic order. He has presented at major conferences, including the World History Association and the Association for Asian Studies.

Awards: His monograph won the Urban History Association’s Best Book award (2005–2006), with reviews in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, China Review International, and others. His research has also been translated into Chinese.

Teaching and Service: Marme teaches undergraduate courses on Asian history, East Asian urban development, and environmental history. Formerly, he directed Fordham’s Honors Program and the International/Intercultural Studies Program. He is active in the Columbia Seminar on Traditional China and has contributed peer-reviewed articles to journals like American Historical Review and Social History.