Kirie Stromberg
Education
B.A. Yale University 2012, M.Phil. Cambridge University, 2014
Areas of Interest
Bronze Age China; bronze casting technologies; text/object interplay; cultural heritage and ethnography; the politics of archaeology in contemporary China.
Profile
Kirie Stromberg was born and raised in the Midwest. She graduated with a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Yale University in 2012. There she also began her studies of Chinese under the auspices of the Light Fellowship and traveled back and forth frequently to mainland China. In 2014 she received her M.Phil. in Chinese Studies from Cambridge University, where she also worked with curators at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Her M.Phil. thesis focused on Late Shang and Early Western Zhou ritual bronzes excavated along the borders of ancient China, and connections to the cultures of the Northern Zone.
Research
Under the guidance of Professor Lothar von Falkenhausen, Kirie intends to conduct further research about bronzes from the borders of the Zhou cultural sphere. She also hopes to perform ethnographic research on archaeology in mainland China and study the effects of ongoing excavation on communities. Her goal is to organize an interdisciplinary course of study bridging Chinese anthropology and archaeology, allowing for exploration of what ritual objects meant to those that produced them – as well as to global society today.
Presentations
"Hidden Music: The Mystery of Early Chinese Bronze Vessels with Bells," Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 28 May 2014