Dr. Johnathan Farris

Associate Professor
Dr. Johnathan Farris - profile photo

Dr. Johnathan Farris

Associate Professor

Art

jfarris01@ysu.edu

Bio

Dr. Farris’s recent research has focused on the artistic and architectural products of cultural exchange between Asia and the West from the 17th through the early 20th centuries. His published work has dwelt on the environments of the China trade in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, but he has cultivated a thorough knowledge of arts of East and Southeast Asia, while building on a firm knowledge of the Western tradition. He has also recently published an article on his own neighborhood in Youngstown, Crandall Park.

Before coming to Youngstown State University, Farris lived and taught in Hong Kong for seven years. Institutions where Farris previously taught include Washington University in St. Louis, Pennsylvania State University, and SCAD, among others. He also has had previous work experience as a surveyor in a state historic preservation office and as an archaeologist at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Some of his further interests include the history of architecture broadly, arts of tourism and travel, landscape and topographic art, the relation of gardens and art, and the history of ceramics, metal and glass. He teaches courses in both Western and Asian art at YSU. His recent special topics seminar offerings have included “Art and the Garden," “Arts for the Table,” and "Arts of Death: Tombs, Cemeteries, Mourning, and the Macabre." Currently, he is preparing to offer "Art History in Scotland" as part of the Art Department's Glasgow-based study abroad program.

  • Education
    • 2004

      Ph D

      Cornell University

    • 1995

      MA

      University of Virginia

    • 1993

      BA

      Yale University

  • Intellectual Contributions
    • 2022

      "Shamian--Social Separation versus Architectural Innovation"

      South China University of Technology

    • 2022

      "“Youngstown’s Crandall Park: An Interwar Speculative Neighborhood in a Landscape of Boom and Bust”"

      IPHS, p. 359-370

    • 2020

      "“Architecture of Hong Kong”"

      Oxford University Press

    • 2020

      "Chinese Architecture: A History"

      Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

    • 2019

      "“Perspectives on Southeast Asian Urbanism.”"

      Journal of Urban History, p. 393–96

    • 2018

      "“Contingency and Opportunity: The First Century of Hong Kong’s Public Parks”"

      IPHS

    • 2016

      "Enclave to Urbanity: Canton, Foreigners, and Architecture from the Late 18th to the Early 20th Centuries"

      Hong Kong University Press

    • 2012

      "“Examining the Chinese City,”"

      Journal of Urban History, p. 617-622

    • 2012

      "“Dwelling Factors: Western Merchants in Canton,”"

      Brill Academic Publishers

    • 2011

      "“Treaty Ports of China and the West’s Architectural Presence,”"

      Routledge

    • 2011

      "Cities in Motion: Interior, Coast, and Diaspora in Transnational China"

      Planning Perspectives

    • 2008

      "Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, Scarcity, and Space, 1949-2005"

      Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

    • 2007

      "Thirteen Factories of Canton: An Architecture of Sino-Western Collaboration and Confrontation,”"

      Buildings and Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum,

    • 2006

      "Architectural Encounters With Essence and Form in Modern China and Shanghai: Architecture & Urbanism for Modern China"

      Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

    • 2004

      "“Dwelling on the Edge of Empires: Foreigners and Architecture in Guangzhou(Canton), China,”"

    • 2001

      "Living Heritage: Vernacular Environment in China, i"

      VernacularArchitecture Newsletter

    • 2001

      "Actors, Audiences, and Historic Theaters of Kentucky"

      ernacular Architecture Newsletter

    • 1995

      "David Meade II and Chaumiere des Prairies."

    • 1993

      "The Maya Towered Palaces of the Central Yucatan: The Rio Bec Sub-style and its Meanings."

Education

  • Ph.D. Cornell University (2004)
  • M.A. University of Virginia (1995)
  • B.A. Yale University (1993)

Publications

  • Enclave to Urbanity: Canton, Foreigners, and Architecture from the Late 18th to the Early 20th Centuries (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2016).
  • “Dwelling Factors: Western Merchants in Canton,” in Carole Shammas, ed. Investing in the Early Modern Built Environment: Europeans, Asians, Settlers and Indigenous Societies (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2012).
  • “Treaty Ports of China and the West’s Architectural Presence,” in Carola Hein, ed. Port Cities: Dynamic Landscapes and Global Networks (New York: Routledge, 2011).
  • “Thirteen Factories of Canton: An Architecture of Sino-Western Collaboration and Confrontation,” in Buildings and Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Volume 14, 2007, pp 66-83.
  • Numerous book reviews relating to topics in the history of Asian and Western art, architecture, and urbanism.
  • Principal authorship of ten nominations to the National Register of Historic Places.