Margaret B. Bodemer, Lecturer

Fields

  • East Asian History
  • History of Anthropology, Social Sciences and Race
  • Modern China, Korea, Japan and Viet Nam
  • Museums, Memory and Cultural Heritage
  • Public History
  • U.S. History
  • World War Two (esp. Asia and the Pacific)

 

Contact Info

 

Education

  • Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i Mānoa
  • M.A., Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
  • B.A., International Studies & History, University of Washington

Courses Taught

  • HIST 2206 United States Cultures
  • HIST 3310 East Asia Cultures and Civilizations
  • HIST 3316 Modern East Asia
  • HIST 3319 A Cultural History of Southeast Asia
  • HIST 4409 The Vietnam Wars
  • HIST 4417 20th Century China
  • HIST 4419 Southeast Asia in 20th and 21st Century
  • HIST 4440 Questions and Issues in U.S. History
  • HIST 4443 Questions and Issues in Asian History
  • HIST 4477 Topics and Issues in Public Engagements with History

Special Projects

  • Cal Poly Global Programs in Taiwan and Japan (2026)
  • Cal Poly Global Programs in Japan and Korea (2025)
  • Cal Poly Global Programs in Vietnam (2019)

Research and Teaching Interests

I am a long-term lecturer in Cal Poly’s Department of History. My teaching and research interests encompass public history, museums and cultural heritage, popular religion, material culture, and the histories of race and social sciences. I teach a wide range of courses in Asian and U.S. history and am committed to inclusive, interdisciplinary learning. I am a believer in both "Learn by Doing" and "Learn by Going" and have created and led Cal Poly Global Programs in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Viet Nam. I have lived, studied and worked abroad in Scotland, England, Germany, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Viet Nam, Japan and Honolulu, Hawai’i. I am a fluent speaker of Vietnamese, and a semi-literate learner of Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. I am keen to help our students solve contemporary problems while understanding the local and global contexts. I am also committed to community service by volunteering as a local precinct worker and supporting local teachers and schools.   

Grants, Honors & Awards

  • Program Development Grant, International Programs, Cal Poly
  • Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad, for Vietnam
  • Foreign Language & Area Studies
  • John F. Embree Fellowship

Selected Service Activities

  • Peer Reviewer for Asian Ethnology, Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Journal of Folklore Studies, Journal of Heritage Studies, Journal of Material Culture, Journal of Heritage Studies, Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Oxford University Press, Public Humanities, The Public Historian, Public Humanities & W.W. Norton
  • Phi Alpha Theta advisor, Alpha Nu Gamma Cal Poly Chapter
  • The Literacy Connection, SLO Public Libraries, tutor
  • Subject Matter Expert, “Carrying Culture: Viet Nam” course curriculum for the University of Hawaii Center for Southeast Asian Studies, K-12 professional development course
  • Chair, Viet Nam Studies Group, Association of Asian Studies, 2018-2021
  • Senator Representative for Part-Time Faculty, Cal Poly Academic Senate, 2016-2019
  • Faculty Advisor, Vietnamese Language and Culture Roundtable, 2016 to present, Cal Poly
  • CLA Representative, International Programs Committee, Cal Poly
  • CLA Representative, International Programs Committee, Cal Poly

Selected Publications (CV available upon request)

  • Bodemer, Margaret B. “An American Anthropology Student at the Việt Nam Museum of Ethnology: My Year of Nem Bảo Tàng, Asking for Help and Becoming Human” in To Build a Vietnam Museum of Ethnology: 30 Years, 2025. 
  • “Using Personal Narratives to Reposition and Reimagine “the Chinese American Experience” in American History and Culture.” Chinese History and Perspectives, San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America, 2018.
  • “Fieldwork On Two Wheels, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy the Ride” In At Home and in the Field: Ethnographic Encounters in Asia and the Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015.
  • “Making Ordinary People Actors in National History: ‘Hanoi Life under the Subsidy Economy,’” in Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, 35(2), p. 56-67, Summer 2010, University of Helsinki.
  • “Some Thoughts on Museum Anthropology at the VME,” In Faces, Voices, and Lives: My Experiences in Building a Museum for Communities by Nguyen Van Huy. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, 2008.
  • “Rằm Tháng Bảy:” Offerings to Wandering Spirits in Contemporary Vietnam,” Asian Anthropology, v. 4 (2005), pp. 115-136.

Selected Talks

  • Introductory comments for The Bridge on the River Kwai Memorial Day screening, The Palm Theater, with Steve Schmidt of the SLO History Center, May 25, 2026 
  • “Toward a More Inclusive History of World War Two on the Central Coast and Why Inclusive History Matters,” California State Parks, WW2 History Exhibition Opening, April 2022
  • “The History and Politics of Cultural Heritage in Viet Nam,” in panel “Vietnam: Cultural Legacy, Crisis of Immigration, and an American Anthropologist in the Vietnam War,” American Association for the Advancement of Science Pacific Division, Cal Poly Pomona, June 2018  
  • “Telling Lives in Asian Studies: Auto/Biographical Narrative as Rhetoric, Technique, and Pedagogy,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Washington DC, March 2018
  • “Centering Southeast Asian Perspectives in the Teaching of Southeast Asia; A Methodology,” Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute 2017 Lecture Series, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2017
  • “Active Learning for the Intro to Cultural Anthropology Classroom,” in Panel: “The Crowd-sourced Classroom: Reasserting Relevance in Anthropological Course Design, Abroad and at Home.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2013
  • “Asia-Pacific Cultural Patterns: Vietnam and Polynesia,” Research report, Dak Lak Provincial Museum, Buon Ma Thuat (delivered in Vietnamese), 2007

Professional Memberships

  • National Council on Public History (NCPH)
  • Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society
  • Association of Asian Studies (AAS)
  • Vietnam Studies Group (VSG)
  • Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA)
  • American Association of Anthropology (AAA)

Language Training

  • Mandarin (self study, basic)
  • Korean (self study, basic)
  • Japanese (self study, basic)
  • Vietnamese (fluent, near native)

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