I am interested in twentieth century East Asian history and Sino-US encounters, with my studies shaped by cultural history, transnational history, and visual culture. I am drawn to the ways in which vernacular photography and filmmaking translate vision and experience, as well as the effects of technology and materiality on such mediations across time.
My current research traces how diasporic media shaped global representations of the Cold War in East Asia. I explore private photographs, amateur film, and vernacular visual materials created by Sinophone groups and American expatriates expelled from Mainland China after 1949. As part of this research, I am studying and preserving a collection of 84,000 never-before-seen images made by one Jesuit documentary photographer in Taiwan, China, and other parts of the world between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
Previously, my work focused on visual practices of American Protestant and Catholic missionaries in modern China as a broad historical phenomenon – a project of visual world-making. I examined diverse images and imaging experiences that framed modern perceptions, religious imaginations, and cross-cultural encounters in the lives of both missionaries and Chinese individuals. My explorations were based on a large body of previously unexplored photographs, films, documents, and oral histories – that I discovered and assembled in institutional and private collections across the US and East Asia.
I am always delighted to share my interests and experiences, and look forward to hearing from you.
Joseph W. Ho 