Who, What, & Where: I am Professor of History in the Department of History and American Studies at the University of Mary Washington. My research is in modern Chinese history, with a particular focus on the history of childhood and play, with intersecting themes of colonialism, material culture, and gender. I have published articles and essays in journals such as The Journal of Asian Studies, Late Imperial China, and Postcolonial Studies. I teach courses on modern Chinese and East Asian history, historical methodology, and also on gender, cinema, and childhood.

I received my B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, my M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and my Ph.D. in History from the University of California, San Diego. My research has been supported by fellowships and awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, an An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University, a Baird Society Resident Scholars award at the Smithsonian Institution, and a Jepson Fellowship from the University of Mary Washington, among others. For more, see my CV.

Very Occasional Blogging… can be found at the Random Notes page on this site.

Twentieth-Century China: I’ve retired as Book Review Editor for the journal Twentieth-Century China. If you’re sending a monograph out for review consideration, head to this site first.

Contact: I’m best reached by email at sfernseb [at] umw [dot] edu. My mailing address is: Department of History and American Studies, University of Mary Washington, 1301 College Avenue, Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Though I have an office phone, I’m frequently away, and so it is indeed best to email.

See also: I can also be found on Mastodon at @sfern@social.coop. And, occasionally, at the site formerly known as Twitter.