Bettine Birge holds up a decorated shoe once worn by a Chinese woman during the now-banned tradition of foot-binding.

Birge, Bettine

Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences
213-740-6660
birge@usc.edu

Professor Birge researches women and gender in China and Inner Asia. A USC College scholar since 1990, her research centers on the Mongol invasion of China in the 13th century. Her interests include women and Confucianism, property rights, comparative systems of marriage, and issues of gender and ethnicity in traditional law. With her Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship for 2006-2008, she will conduct research in Mongolia by mastering the Mongolian language and following the route of the Genghis Khan conquest, while studying archeological excavations along the way. Professor Birge speaks and writes fluent Chinese, Japanese and French, and she will study the Mongolian classical and modern language as well as learn about visual culture and archaeology.

Education:
Ph.D., Columbia College

Selected Publications:
Birge, B. (1999). Woman, property, and Confucian reaction in Sung and Yuan China, 960-1368. Cambridge University Press.

Birge, B. (1995). Levirate marriage and the revival of widow chastity in Yuan China. Asia Major, 8(2).

Birge, B. (1989). Chu Hsi and women’s education, in Neo-Confucian education: The formative stage. UC Press.

Honors and Awards:
USC Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award, 2005
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1996 - 1997