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 125 Race & Intersectionality in Film
- ETHN 195A/B Seminar and Field Work
- ETHN 203 Ethnic Studies Contemporary Issues
- ETHN 204 Ethnic Studies Foundations and Theories
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 a Golden Reel Award finalist 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.
He is a volunteer historian and former board member at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (CHSSC), a non-profit organization in Los Angeles Chinatown. In 2007, he directed the CHSSC's Chinatown Remembered Project, which paired youth interns with community elders to document the history of Chinatown in the 1930s and 1940s. He is currently co-director of The Five Chinatowns Project for the CHSSC.
In May of 2024, Stanford University Press released Dr. Gow's book, Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community. The book examines 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 his two favorite soccer teams, 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.
Academic Book
Peforming Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2024)
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
"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.
"Wong Ah Gow: The Life of a Chinese Merchant in Ventura County, 1853-1929," Gum Saan Journal, Volume 29, No. 1, 2006, 21-39
Newspaper Op-Ed
"L.A.'s Chinatown Helped to Reinvent Southern Califorina," Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2024.
Reviews
Review of The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky: A History of the Chinese Experience in Montana by Mark Johnson, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol 114, No 1, Winter 2023.
Review of Asian Americans, series producer Rene Tajima-Pena, produced by S. Leo Chiang, Geeta Gandbhir, and Grace Lee, PBS, 2020, 5 Episodes, 296 mins, American Historical Review, Vol 126, Issue 1, March, 2021.
Podcast Appearances
"Performing Chinatown," New Books Network, hosted By Donna Anderson, July 24, 2024.
Vivan Le producer, "The Chinatown Punk Wars," 99% Invisible, February 10, 2023.
Featured In the Media
Interviews with Student Journalists
Olivia Higa and Therese Santiago hosts, K(no)w History, K(no)w Self, Podcast. June 7, 2021.
