Contact Information
Name: William Gow, Ph.D. (he/him)
Title: Assistant Professor
Office Location: 554A Amador Hall
Email: william.gow@csus.edu
Office Phone: 916.278.6646
Office Hours: Zoom: 4-5pm T/Th and by Appointment
Courses
Additional Links
- ETHN 11 Introduction to Ethnic Studies
- ETHN 14 Introduction to Asian American Studies
- ETHN 113 Asian American Communities
- ETHN 195A/B Seminar and Field Work
- ETHN 203 Ethnic Studies Contemporary Issues
About Dr. Gow
William Gow is a California-based community historian, educator, and documentary filmmaker. A fourth-generation Chinese American and a proud graduate of the San Francisco Unified School District, he holds an M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies with a designated emphasis in Film Studies from UC Berkeley. Before joining the faculty at Sacramento State, he taught Asian American Studies courses at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA.
His first documentary, More to the Chinese Side, co-directed with Sharon Heijin Lee, was nominated for the Golden Reel Award at the Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival in 2003. The documentary is a first-person examination of Dr. Gow's biracial identity and his parents' interracial marriage.
Driven by an interest in his family history, he served as a volunteer historian and board member at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (CHSSC), a non-profit organization in Los Angeles Chinatown. At the CHSSC, he founded and directed the Chinatown Remembered Project. This project paired youth interns with community elders to document the history of Los Angeles Chinatown in the 1930s and 1940s through oral history and digital video. He is currently co-director of The Five Chinatowns Project for the CHSSC. This project includes, an oral history archive, community presentations, and a forthcoming edited volume about the five Chinatowns of mid-twentieth century Los Angeles.
In addition to his co-edited volume for the CHSSC, Dr. Gow is researching and writing a book about Los Angeles Chinatown and its relationship to Hollywood cinema in the 1930s and 1940s. In 2019, the Western History Association awarded him the Vicki Ruiz Award for best journal article on race in the North American West for his piece, “A Night in Old Chinatown: American Orientalism, China Relief Fundraising, and the 1938 Moon Festival in Los Angeles,” published in Pacific Historical Review.
In his free time, Dr. Gow enjoys spending time with his two boys, watching independent films, and cheering on the Los Angeles Galaxy and Sacramento Republic.
Teaching Philosophy
Dr. Gow is a strong believer in collaborative student-centered learning. His courses utilize a social constructivist learning model that encourages students to learn through interaction with one another.
Prior to entering his doctoral program, Dr. Gow spent nearly a decade teaching history and social studies in California public schools including Nightingale Middle School, Santa Monica High School, and Berkeley High School. As a lecturer at Stanford University, the Asian American Activities Center awarded him it’s faculty award for his teaching, mentorship, and service.
Select Publications
"Chinese Railroad Workers in American History Textbooks: A Historical Genealogy, 1849-1965 in Chinese and the Iron Road, edited by Gordon H. Chang and Shelly Fisher Fishkin (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019).
"How My Great-Grandfather Lost His Name: Reflections on Doing Chinese American Genealogical Research," Amerasia Journal, Volume 34, No. 1, 2008, 163-170.
Reviews
Review of Asian Americans, series producer Rene Tajima-Pena, pproduced by S. Leo Chiang, Geeta Gandbhir, and Grace Lee, PBS, 2020, 5 Episodes, 296 mins, American Historical Review, Vol 126, Issue 1, March, 2021.
Featured In the Media
Podcast Appearances
Vivan Le producer, "The Chinatown Punk Wars," 99% Invisible, February 10, 2023.
Interviews with Student Journalists
Olivia Higa and Therese Santiago hosts, K(no)w History, K(no)w Self, Podcast. June 7, 2021.
