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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Stephan N. Kory

Stephan N. Kory

Assistant Professor of Chinese
Ph.D., Indiana University

Office Hours — Fall 2024

  • Office Hours: Tuesday 1:50–2:50 p.m. / Thursday 1:45–3:45 p.m.
  • Or by appointment

Areas of Interest

Han and medieval Chinese literature, culture, and religion (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and popular religion); Classical Chinese language; literature and history of East Asian medical and mantic sciences; tea history and culture; people

Biography

Stephan N. Kory (byname Steve) teaches courses on Classical Chinese and on ancient and medieval Chinese literature and culture. He holds a PhD in Chinese from Indiana University and an MA in Chinese from the University of Colorado. He was a Visiting Fellow at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (IKGF) at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg from mid-2016 to mid-2017, and has held visiting teaching positions as Adjunct Professor of Chinese at the College of Charleston, Assistant Professor of Chinese at Swarthmore College, Assistant Professor of Religion and Chinese Humanities at Reed College, and Lecturer in Religious Studies at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

His recent publications include “Ambivalent Roots and Definitive Branches: Discourses on the Holy Man Shan Daokai (d. 359? CE)” (Asia Major, 2018), “Presence in Variety: De-Trivializing Female Diviners in Medieval China” (Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China, 2016), and “From Deer Bones to Turtle Shells: The State Ritualization of Pyro-Plastromancy During the Nara-Heian Transition” (Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2015). He is currently preparing articles for East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine on the first-century CE rise and the messy medieval multiplicity of zhanhou (omen watching; prognostic observation; meteoromancy; seeing) and a chapter on the history and operations of calendrical astrology for the IKGF Handbook on Chinese Divination Techniques. Dr. Kory is currently editing this handbook, which brings together twenty senior and junior scholars from around the world to introduce sixteen of the best-attested forms of divination in Chinese history. He is also working on a monograph tentatively titled Doctors, Diviners, and Artisans in Mid-Medieval North China, which features translations and a comparative study of over a hundred biographies of late fourth to early seventh century doctors, diviners, and artisans collected together in the 554 Book of Wei; the 636 Book of Northern Qi, Book of Zhou, and Book of Sui; and the 643 History of the Northern Dynasties.

Dr. Kory is also passionate about sustainable tea cultivation in central Taiwan. He resided in Taichung for over half a decade and has long-standing friendships with cultivators and traders in that region. He thoroughly enjoys high mountain oolongs and continues to research the history, culture, and science of Chinese tea.

Teaching and Research Positions

  • 2019–Present: University of Florida, Assistant Professor of Chinese
  • 2017–2019: College of Charleston, Adjunct Professor of Chinese
  • 2016–2017: International Consortium for Research in the Humanities “Fate, Freedom, and Prognostication. Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia” at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Visiting Fellow
  • 2016: Swarthmore College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese Literature
  • 2013–2015: Reed College, Visiting Assistant Professor in Rel. and Chinese Humanities
  • 2011–2013: Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Lecturer in Rel. Studies
  • 2006–2011: Indiana University, Instructor in East Asian Languages and Cultures
  • 2006: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Docent Lecturer
  • 2003–2006: Indiana University (Bloomington), Associate Instructor
  • 2001: Southwest Jiaotong University (Chengdu, China), Independent Instructor
  • 1998–2001: Seki Senior High School (Gifu, Japan), Assistant English Teacher (JET)
  • 1995–1998: University of Colorado (Boulder), Teaching Assistant
  • 1993–1995: Tunghai University (Taichung, Taiwan), Independent Instructor
  • 1991–1993: Steve’s English School (Taichung, Taiwan), Instructor and Co-Founder

Education

  • Ph.D. – Indiana University, 2012 (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
  • M.A. – University of Colorado, 1998 (East Asian Languages and Literatures)
  • B.A. – Washington and Lee University, 1991 (East Asian Studies)

Publications (since 2020)

  • [current] single-authored monograph
    “Technicians and Artisans of Heaven-and-Earth: Imperial Memories of Diviners, Physicians, and Craftsmen in Mid-Medieval China”
    (under final review at Brill, as of Sept. 2024)
  • [current] co-editor of collected volume

    IKGF Handbook of Divination and Prognostication in China, Part 2: Techniques
    [This work brings together twenty senior and junior scholars from around the world to introduce sixteen of the best-attested forms of divination in Chinese history. Entries introduce primary and secondary scholarship on each technique, as well as the basic procedures of each one. Chapters include Astrology, Meteorology, Hemerology, Calendrical Astrology, Horoscopy, Osteomancy, Cleromancy, Oneiromancy, Portentology and Prophecy, Zoomancy, Physiognomy (human), Alveromancy, Topomancy, Glyphomancy, Spirit-Writing, Iatromancy, and Mantic Games.] (under initial review at Brill, as of Aug. 2024)

  • [current] chapter author
    “Calendrical Astrology” for the IKGF Handbook of Divination and Prognostication in China, Volume 2: Techniques.
  • 2024 – “Past Achievements and Future Directions of the IKGF,” International Journal of Divination and Prognostication, second quarter.
  • 2024 – “Review of Jessey J. C. Choo, Inscribing Death: Burials, Representations, and Remembrance in Tang China (2022),” Journal of Asian Studies 83.2 (2024): in-press.
  • 2022 – “Divination: China.” In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa, pp. 1 -7. Wiley Online Library, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00732
  • 2022 – “Magic: China.” In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa, pp. 1-5. Wiley Online Library, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00735
  • 2021 – “37: Feng Shui Compass – Luo Pan.” In Zeichen der Zukunft Wahrsagen in Ostasien und Europa (Signs of the Future: Divination in East Asia and Europe), eds. Marie-Therese Feist, Michael Lackner, and Ulrike Ludwig, pp. 183-185. Nürnberg: Verlag des Germanischen National museums, 2021.
  • 2021 – “38: Feng Shui Ruler – Lu Ban Chi.” In Zeichen der Zukunft Wahrsagen in Ostasien und Europa (Signs of the Future: Divination in East Asia and Europe), eds. Marie-Therese Feist, Michael Lackner, and Ulrike Ludwig, pp. 186-187. Nürnberg: Verlag des Germanischen National museums, 2021.
  • 2021 – “39: Burial Charts of Jindai Mishu.” In Zeichen der Zukunft Wahrsagen in Ostasien und Europa (Signs of the Future: Divination in East Asia and Europe), eds. Marie-Therese Feist, Michael Lackner, and Ulrike Ludwig, pp. 188-189. Nürnberg: Verlag des Germanischen National museums, 2021.
  • 2021 – “40: Genealogy of the Shi Family of Tainan, with Depictions of the Feng Shui of their Ancestral Shrines.” In Zeichen der Zukunft Wahrsagen in Ostasien und Europa (Signs of the Future: Divination in East Asia and Europe), eds. Marie-Therese Feist, Michael Lackner, and Ulrike Ludwig, pp. 192-193. Nürnberg: Verlag des Germanischen National museums, 2021.