Sara Kang Joins Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts

Written by
Rhea Dexter, Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts
Oct. 24, 2024

Five new scholars have joined the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts this fall. The society is an interdisciplinary community of postdoctoral fellows and Princeton faculty members that encourages innovation in scholarship and teaching.

Established in 1999 by a gift from the late charter trustee Lloyd Cotsen and the Humanities Council’s leadership and now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the society offers outstanding scholars with a recent Ph.D. the opportunity to enhance their teaching and research over a three-year term. Fellows meet regularly for formal and informal discussions, seminars, workshops and reading groups to pursue new knowledge and understanding within and across disciplines. The society has welcomed 123 postdoctoral fellows to Princeton since its founding.

“The members of this year’s cohort bring new ideas and perspectives to the society and the Princeton community at large,” said Yelena Baraz, director of the society. “They are starting conversations with faculty and graduate students, and their innovative classes are attracting undergraduates.” Baraz is the Kennedy Foundation Professor of Latin Language and Literature at Princeton and professor of classics.

The full cohort of 14 Cotsen postdoctoral fellows is drawn from a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and humanities-related social sciences — and includes one astrophysicist. Fellows hold appointments as lecturers in their academic host departments and in the Humanities Council. They teach half-time while conducting their own research.

During their time at Princeton, they engage with the campus community in many ways: advising and mentoring undergraduate students, participating in academic programs and panels, presenting their research, developing new courses and co-teaching with faculty members.

Sara Kang

Appointed in the Department of History and the Humanities Council, Kang is a historian of gender and sexuality in modern Japan, Korea and the Asia-Pacific. Her research investigates histories of sexual exploitation and violence under overlapping Japanese and American imperial formations. At Princeton, Kang is developing her first book project, “Operation Relax: Empires of Sex in Japan, South Korea and the Asia-Pacific (1945-1995).” She holds a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. This fall, she is teaching the course “Women and War in Asia/America.”