Benton Gordon

An MA student in the UW China Studies program and recipient of the Margaret C. Mykut Fellowship, Benton Gordon’s research focuses on Taiwan. He lived in Taitung for one year, teaching English in a small rural middle school with the US Fulbright Program, and in Taichung for a second year, studying Mandarin and mentoring undergraduates from Taiwan and across the Indo-Pacific at Tunghai University. Benton is particularly interested in Taiwanese history and society, the intersection of religion and politics in Taiwan, and international relations and political economy in the Indo-Pacific more broadly. His current research project examines the effect of Mazu temple boss political endorsements on national elections in Taiwan.

Grateful to be back in Seattle where he grew up, Benton studied flute and piccolo performance at the Eastman School of Music before setting out for Taiwan and ultimately returning to the Pacific Northwest. At the University of Washington, he is also the China Studies Program Graduate Student Assistant. Benton enjoys taking walks around local parks, volunteering with the youth group at Trinity Church Seattle, and keeping up with the latest episodes of The Asia Chessboard and Potomac Watch.