Yuting Dong

Yuting Dong serves as Assistant Professor of East Asian History in the Department of History at the University of Chicago, with cross-appointments to the Committee on Japanese Studies and Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization. She joined the university in July 2022 after completing a PhD at Harvard University in 2021 and holding an Academy Scholar position at Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.

Her educational trajectory culminates in a Harvard University PhD (2021), following which she immediately entered prestigious postdoctoral research before assuming her current faculty position.

Professor Dong's scholarship critically examines modern Japanese colonialism through interconnected lenses of labor history, environmental history, and history of expertise. Her innovative methodology treats infrastructure as historical archives to expose obscured power dynamics between colonial administrators and local populations. Current projects investigate Japan's infrastructure empire in Manchuria and the politicization of air within colonial contexts, revealing how material environments became sites of imperial control and resistance.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent focus on Northeast China (1905-1945), analyzing how roads, bricks, and urban spaces functioned as technologies of colonial knowledge production. These works bridge historical, architectural, and environmental scholarship while interrogating power structures through material culture.

Her principal recognition includes:

• Academy Scholar at Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies

While specific advising relationships aren't documented, her active research program suggests graduate mentorship within Chicago's History Department and affiliated committees. Her grant trajectory likely supports ongoing archival work across East Asia, though specific awards aren't detailed in available sources.

Dong's collaborative framework operates through interdisciplinary committee affiliations that connect historical research with environmental studies and urban geography, fostering cross-departmental dialogue on colonial legacies in contemporary East Asia.