Biography
Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao joined the American University of Paris in 2021. A Canadian scholar with an interdisciplinary background, he holds a Ph.D. in the historical, theoretical, and critical studies of psychology and has conducted postdoctoral research in sociology and anthropology.
Gao's research explores the formation of human subjects within political, social, and epistemic systems. He has pursued this question through three lines of inquiry. The first examines the history of psychology under Chinese communism, focusing on how psychology contributed to the formation of socialist subjects. The second investigates how contemporary geopolitical forces influence identity in national, racial, and cultural terms. The third turns to theoretical questions, drawing on poststructuralism to examine the epistemological and methodological foundations of social inquiry.
Gao has published more than twenty journal articles and book chapters. He has also (co-)edited special issues of Theory & Psychology and Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, as well as a book volume in the Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology series. He serves on the editorial boards of Theory & Psychology, History of Psychology, and the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, and on the Executive Board of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology. He also co-organized the 2025 Three Societies Meeting (ESHHS, Cheiron, and SHP) in Paris. His work has received awards in theoretical psychology, the history of psychology, international psychology, and qualitative inquiry.
Before joining AUP, Gao taught in Toronto and Vancouver. At AUP, he uses a roundtable seminar format to combine intellectual rigor with open dialogue and collaborative learning.
Education/Degrees
- Postdoc in Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University & The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- PhD in Psychology, York University, Canada
- MA in Psychology, York University, Canada
Publications
EDITED BOOK VOLUME
- Gao, Z. & Medved, M. (Eds.) (2025). Global Perspectives on Cultural Politics in Indigenous Psychology, Palgrave Macmillan.
EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES
- Gao, Z. & Teo, T. (Eds.) (2023). Special Issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”, Theory & Psychology, 33(2), Sage.
- Gao, Z. (Ed.) (2022). Special Issue “Contemporary Innovations in Theory: Contributions from China and the Chinese Diaspora”, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 56(2), Springer.
REPRESENTATIVE REFEREED ARTICLES
- Gao, Z. (2023). The Politics of Chinese Immigrants’ “Double Unbelonging” and Deglobalization. In Z. Gao & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”, Theory & Psychology, 33(2), 266-283.
- Gao, Z. (2021). Unsettled belongings: Chinese immigrants’ mental health vulnerability as a symptom of international politics in the Covid-19 pandemic. In Z. Morrill, L. Hoffman & M. Yang (Eds.) special issue “COVID-19 Part II”. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(2), 198-218.
- Gao, Z. (2020). From empirical observation to social intervention: The Marxization of psychology in China, 1949–1958. In W. Pickren & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Re-envisioning general psychology”. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 43-59.
- Gao, Z. (2019). Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965. In H. Y. Wu (Ed.) special issue “History of psychology and psychiatry in the global world”. History of Psychology, 22(4), 309-327.
- Gao, Z. & Bischoping, K. (2019). The communist hero and the April Fool’s joke: A case study in the cultural politics of authentication and fakery. In M. Krings, C. Kilian & J. Beek (Eds.) special issue “An anthropology of defrauding and faking”. Social Anthropology, 27(3), 438-454.
- Gao, Z. (2015). Pavlovianism in China: Politics and differentiation across scientific disciplines in the Maoist era. In H. Chiang (Ed.), special issue “Ordering the social: History of the human sciences in modern China”. History of Science, 53(1), 57-85.
See my Google Scholar for a complete list of publications.
Awards, Fellowships & Grants
- Distinguished Early Career Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry Award, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, Division 5 of the American Psychological Association, 2022
- Early Career Award, Society for the History of Psychology, Division 26 of the American Psychological Association, 2022
- Outstanding Early Career Psychologist Award (outside the US), International Psychology, Division 52 of American Psychological Association, 2020
- Young Scholar Award, Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2019
- Certificate of Academic Excellence, Canadian Psychological Association, 2019
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, “Inter-Cultural Experience of Chinese Immigrants in Canada” (PI), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: $90,000, 2019-2021