CURRICULUM VITAE
Dr. James X. Morris, PhD
Statement
My academic work is multidisciplinary, broadly concerned with cultural heritage, complemented by past research and work in political economy, political science, and government. This background has provided perspectives on institutions, economies, and social forces. Interests extend across cultural landscapes, religious and material culture, cemeteries and monuments, political economy, history, and the relationships between communities, environments, and knowledge systems.
Increasingly, I have been transforming raw fieldwork and dispersed information into structured, searchable, and interoperable digital assets and resources designed for reuse, expansion, and future-oriented applicability.
Current research draws on digital humanities and a range of digital and field-based methods, including cultural resource management (CRM), geographic information systems (GIS), 3D modeling, and photogrammetry. This work has developed into a multidisciplinary approach to the humanities and ethnology, combining field observation and documentation with the organization, visualization, and interpretation of large bodies of cultural, historical, spatial, and textual information.
Education
Ph.D. in Asia-Pacific Studies (July 2023)
National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan
Dissertation: “A Paradigm in the Ethnography of Settlement History: Mapping Earth Deity Shrines in the Taipei Basin, Taiwan”
Advisor: Jihn-fa Andy Jan (詹進發)
M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies (June 2016)
National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan
Thesis: “Economic Interaction Across the Strait: The Feasibility of an Integration Regime in Southern China Among Protectionist Trends”
Advisor: Chung-min Tsai
B.A. Political Science (May 2008)
Saint Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire. USA
Academic Appointments and Research Assistanceships
Postdoctoral Scholar (2024-2026)
Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Supervisor: Tyng-Ruey Chuang
Research Assistant (2023-2024)
Institute of Information Science / Center for IT Innovation
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Supervisor: Tyng-Ruey Chuang
Publications
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Morris, James X. (2024). “Earth deity shrines of the Greater Taipei area: A first edition curated dataset”. Research Ideas and Outcomes. 10: e127510. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.10.e127510
Morris, James X. (2025). “Empty Homes and Dead Goat Bones on Xiji Yu: Field notes of a cultural landscape and co-creating digital deep maps”. Shima. 17(1), 24–69. 10.21463/shima.178
奧利華，林莉倫，陳乃瑜，莫詹姆，詹雅晴。(2016)。 “論澎湖四嶼新發現之‘皇明洪門楊氏’墓”。 台灣學誌。第14期。 2016年10月。 頁49-74。
Book Chapters
Blundell, David, Ching-Chih Lin, & James X. Morris. (2018). “Spatial Humanities: An Integrated Approach to Spatiotemporal Research”. Big Data in Computational Social Science and Humanities. Ed. Shu-Heng Chen. Springer. 263-288.
Conference Proceedings
Morris, James X. (2025). “Between Tomb and God: the interstitial social position of graves, remains, and tutelary deities in the Taipei basin”. Presented at DRGPA 2025: The 7th International Conference on Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Pacific Asia (DRGPA). Marginalized Space – Silencing Voices. Kaohsiung, Taiwan. November 14 – 16.
Morris, James X., Colin Perry, & Andrew X. Morris. (2025). “Acculturation of Chinese practices at Mt. Hope Cemetery, Boston: A presentation of diaspora burial traditions in Boston utilizing low-cost citizen science methods,GIS mapping, 3D modeling, and LiDAR technology”. Presented at DRGPA 2025: The 7th International Conference on Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Pacific Asia (DRGPA). Kaohsiung, Taiwan. November 14 – 16.
Morris, James X. (2023). “Writing About Cultural Landscapes and Xindian First Public Cemetery: A publication first look”. Presented at Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Pacific Asia DRGPA 2023. Kaohsiung, Taiwan. November 10 – 11.
Morris, James X. (2021). “Cosmological assumptions of the Minnan tomb: turtles, wombs, microcosms, and beyond”. Presented at DRGPA 2021 Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Pacific Asia, the 5th Conference. Kaohsiung, Taiwan. October 14 – 16.
Morris, James X. (2021). “Heritage Resource Loss: Reflections on some lessons learned from the case of Xindian First Public Cemetery”. Presented at DRGPA 2021 Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Pacific Asia, the 5th Conference. Kaohsiung, Taiwan. October 14 – 16.
Blundell, David and James X. Morris. (2019). “Taiwanese Backpedal on Heritage Conservation in Their Heartland.” Late-Breaking News. American Anthropological Association (AAA) with Canadian Anthropological Society (CASCA) Joint Annual Meeting. Changing Climates: Struggle, Collaboration, and Justice / Changer d’air: Lutte, collaboration et justice. Vancouver, Canada. November 20−24.
Morris, James X. (2017). “Surveying the Geomancy of the Southern Penghu Island Systems: Steps toward an atlas of geomancy in Penghu”. Research report. Marine National Park Service Management Office.
Morris, James X. (2017) “Rivers and Steles: Using Chinese ritual steles to explore settlement patterns and trade networks in early Taipei”. Presented at Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Taiwan 2. Taipei, Taiwan. March 17-18.
Morris, James X. (2017). “Urban Renewal in a Sacred Landscape: Land conflict in New Taipei City’s development of Xindian First Public Cemetery”. Presented at Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Taiwan 2. Taipei, Taiwan. March 17-18.
Morris, James X. (2017). “Messages beyond Death: The semiotics of tombstones and social belonging in Colonial New England and Imperial Taiwan”. Presented at Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Taiwan 2. Taipei, Taiwan. March 17-18.
Affiliations
2015 – present. Asia-Pacific SpatioTemporal Institute (ApSTi)
National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan