About the Department

Nara Dillon received her B.A. in history from William College and her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.  From 2003 to 2007 she taught Chinese politics and comparative politics as an Assistant Professor at Bard College.  Her interests include the politics of welfare, charity, and health care in China and the rest of the developing world.  Her publications include At the Crossroads of Empires: Middlemen, Social Networks, and Statebuilding in Republican Shanghai (Stanford, 2008) and articles on gender, private charity, and welfare reform.  She is currently researching the development of the Maoist welfare state from the 1940s to the 1960s, focusing on programs for workers and unemployed urbanites.