After joining the Department of Sociology and the Department East Asian Languages & Cultures in 2003, Ethan Michelson became affiliated with the Maurer School of Law in 2008. He is currently Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures and Academic Director of the IU China Gateway.
His research on Chinese lawyers, social conflict in rural China, and gender injustice in China’s civil litigation system has been published as articles in a variety of disciplinary and area studies journals, including the American Sociological Review, the American Journal of Sociology, The China Quarterly, Law & Society Review, Social Problems, and Journal of Conflict Resolution, and as chapters in a number of edited volumes. His book, Decoupling: Gender Injustice in China’s Divorce Courts, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2022.
Over the past 25 years Professor Michelson has lived and conducted research in China on and off for almost eight years. He has studied at and been affiliated with Xiamen University, Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Renmin University of China, and has traveled to or done field work in 16 provinces.
His research in China has been funded by the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the U.S. Department of Education (Fulbright-Hays), the American Bar Foundation, and the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.
