About
I am a social and cultural historian of the United States. My research and teaching focus on Asian American history and on the history of the U.S. in the Pacific World between 1850 and 1950. I come to this work as a first-generation American who was born in Hong Kong, grew up in California, and spent the past decade and a half on the East Coast. My work is guided not only by my training in historical methods but also by my dedication to critical race and ethnic studies.
I am the author of Imperial Stewards: Chinese Art and the Making of America's Pacific Century (Stanford University Press, 2025). My recent publications include an article in Amerasia Journal about the Boy Scout movement in New York’s Chinatown before World War II, and a book chapter on the role of colleges and universities in U.S.-China relations and Asian immigration in the long 19th century that uses Amherst College as a case study.
I am currently working on a new book project titled Mounting Tensions: Museums and the Politics of Asian American History. Mounting Tensions examines museums and historical societies as forms of activism that emerged out of the Asian American Movement in the 1960s, and questions how they reshaped and even undermined the movement's ideas and practices over time. In addition, I am completing an article-length study about the forgotten history of the interracial adoption of white children by Chinese parents during the Exclusion Era.
Outside of my research and teaching, I currently serve as Associate Director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies and as a member of the University of Michigan Senate Assembly. I speak regularly to community groups and major corporations on AAPI issues, and have contributed commentary to media outlets including the BBC World Service, PBS News, Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times, The History Channel, and many others.
Ian Shin is associate professor of American Culture and History.
