Associate ProfessorCoordinator, Chinese program
Research
I am a historian of early China with a focus on pre-Qin (i.e. pre-221 BCE) society and thought. As I did research in formal linguistics before embarking on a career in early Chinese studies, linguistic theories and methodologies continue to inform my approach to the study of the pre-Qin period. Currently I am working on a book in which I use lexical changes to trace the emergence of proto-anthropological concepts in the Warring States period (481-221 BCE). My research projects also include early Chinese theories of epistemology and reclusion, as well as comparisons between pre-Qin China and ancient Greece.
Courses
ASIA 65: First-Year Seminar: Philosophy on Bamboo: Rethinking Early Chinese Thought
CHIN 252: Introduction to Chinese Culture through Narrative
CHIN 253: Chinese Language and Society
CHIN 346: History as Fiction or Fiction as History? Early Chinese History in Film and Literature
CHIN 510: Introduction to Classical Chinese (taught in Chinese)
Publications
Brown, M. and U. Bergeton (2008) ‘Seeing Like a Sage: Three Takes on Identity and Perception In Early China. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 35:4, 641-62.
Bergeton, U. and R. Pancheva (2012). “A New Perspective on the Historical Development of English Intensifiers and Reflexives”. In D. Jonas, J. Whitman and A. Garrett (eds.). Grammatical Change: Origins, Nature, Outcomes. Oxford University Press, 123-138.