Professor of Asian Studies

Director of Asian Converations

 

St. Olaf College

1520 St Olaf Avenue

Northfield MN, 55057

(507) 786-3567

wongk@stolaf.edu

Ka Wong joined the St. Olaf Asian Studies faculty after teaching at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawai’i. His research interests explore the symbiotic ties and tensions between individual identity and cultural discourse across a wide range of topics. Integrating culture and technology into the Chinese language classroom is also one of his pedagogical focuses. His publications include three books, Visions of a Nation: Public Monuments in Twentieth-Century Thailand, Cultural Pedagogy in the Chinese Classroom: Theory, Research, and Practice, and one co-edited volume Explorations in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: A Celebration of the Lifetime Achievements of Tao-chung Ted Yao, as well as various journal articles and book chapters on Chinese language teaching, film, literature, and cultural anthropology. His fourth book, Enmity and Empathy: Japanese Americans in Minnesota During World War II, will come out in Spring 2025 published by Minnesota Historical Society. He has also produced and directed a documentary film Beyond the Barbed Wire on Japanese Americans in Minnesota along with many student-collaborative digital projects.

He is the recipient of a number of national and regional grants, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), ASIANetwork, Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS), Digital Humanities on the Hill Grants (Mellon Foundation & St. Olaf College), and Magnus the Good Awards (St. Olaf College).