Biography of Na Li

Na Li, known as Lina to her UMass community, joined the Public History program while working on her doctorate in Urban & Regional Planning. Her research focuses on public history and urban preservation. In 2010, her article “Urban Landscapes as Public History: The Chinese Context” appeared in The Public Historian. In 2012, her article, “Preservation” appeared in The Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning. Her upcoming book, Kensington Market: Collective Memory, Public History, and Toronto’s Urban Landscape (University of Toronto Press, 2014) incorporates collective memory in urban landscape interpretation, and suggests a culturally sensitive narrative approach to urban built environment. Lina is affiliated with the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University. Now in her role as a Research Fellow at Chongqing University and Adjunct Professor at Shanghai Normal University, Lina is pioneering to establish public history in China.