Nora is a historian of modern East Asia, specializing in the period from 1600 to 2000. Her research examines the social interactions among diverse communities in the Qing Empire, the Republic of China, and the People’s Republic of China, with particular attention to the ways power and identity shaped social and economic development. She also engages with broader questions on the roots of inequality and the processes of modernization, and she conducts her research across nine languages.