Baihui Duan
Koch History Centre Fellow
Wadham College
I am an environmental and medical historian of early modern East Asia, particularly the Korean peninsula.
Research Interests
My academic interests encompass the history of war, environment, climate, animals, disease, medicine, and governance in East Asia, with a particular focus on the Korean peninsula in the aftermath of the Imjin War (also known as the Great East Asian War of 1592-1598). My research considers how the impact of epidemics spread beyond Korea’s borders to affect East Asian military strategy, commerce, diplomacy, and the circulation of medical knowledge, shedding light on interlinked histories of infectious diseases and environmental crises in the region. Through a comparison with the European history of public health, my project also contributes to the neglected field of epidemic management in early modern East Asia, opening questions of power and its political meaning in global discourses of health. My award-winning research has been published in journals including Environmental History and Medical History. I am currently completing a book, tentatively entitled Relieving the People: Epidemic Management and Confucian Statecraft in Post-Imjin Korea. My research at the Koch History Centre examines war-torn ecological scarcities and abundances that fundamentally transformed relationships among humans, animals, and environments in early modern East Asia.
