Stephanie Maurer is an MA/MSc student in International and World History at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. Her dissertation examines Chinese seamen in the era of Chinese exclusion, from the founding of the Lianyi Society (Lián yì shè联义社) c. 1911 through the Marshall Plan years (1948–51). Drawing on archival research in the port cities of Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York, and London, she will explore how a racially segmented maritime labor force circulated across jurisdictions that increasingly sought to restrict Chinese migrant labor. At the same time, she argues seamen used maritime space for political organizing, carrying strategies and solidarity internationally.
Since 2017, Stephanie has worked at the Homeless Action Center, a nonprofit that provides legal advocacy for public benefits and housing navigation for unhoused people with disabilities in Alameda County, California.
Stephanie graduated from Reed College in 2014 with a B.A. in Sociology and a commendation for academic excellence. Her undergraduate thesis examined the role of local organizations in refugee resettlement.
