Douglas Fix | Reed College (original) (raw)
Papers by Douglas Fix
With growing Chinese power and influence on the global stage, scholars in several disciplines hav... more With growing Chinese power and influence on the global stage, scholars in several disciplines have developed a new interest in the 'tribute system.' This course will examine the history of Ming and Qing dynasty foreign relations, beginning with maritime diplomacy directed by the eunuch Zheng He in the early fifteenth century and ending with the Qianlong Emperor's responses to the British Macartney mission in 1793. Following an initial discussion of tributary structure, its ideological origins in classical texts, and the principles and practices associated with long-term maintenance, weekly readings and analysis will be devoted to the following topics: the expansion of cartographic knowledge and textual representations of the world; 'vassal' (i.e., Japanese, Korean and Ryukyu) negotiations on the periphery; envoy pictures in the "Imperial portraits of tributaries" handscroll; European competition for recognition; the impact of Japanese sakoku 'closed country' edicts on Sino-Japanese relations; and questions related to discontent over gifts, guests and imperial rituals. Students will develop, research, write, and present a substantial research paper using primary and secondary sources.
Taiwan Historical Research, 2021
With reference to annual reports of the Customs, annual trade reports of the British consul, earl... more With reference to annual reports of the Customs, annual trade reports of the British consul, early investigations carried out by Japanese colonial officials, photographs and historical materials of various sources, this paper traces the evolution of the labor pool employed for second-stage tea processing by firms in Dadaocheng, Taiwan during the nineteenth century and the early Japanese colonial era. The size of this labor pool was estimated using specific data on tea-processing firms, annual tea export statistics, and firmbased employee figures. This paper also explores the gendered division of labor, working conditions for different tasks, and the brief historical data on wages for laborers involved in this second-stage processing of oolong and baozhong tea in northern Taiwan.
Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, 1895-1945: History, culture, memory, 2006
In the fall of 1945-after the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces but prior to... more In the fall of 1945-after the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces but prior to the formal takeover of Taiwan-some two or three hundred incidents of assault and theft in Taiwan were reported by the colonial police bu• reau. 1 Although contemporary newspapers, as well as latter-day memoirs and oral histories, briefly mention these incidents, few historians have given them much attention. Contemporary and historical accounts provide various explanations for this unlawful activity. A leaflet distributed in September 1945 in mid-Taiwan (with the intent of curtailing this activity) stated: Ignorant and stupid brothers, watching for the chance to commit wrongs and tak• ing advantage of circumstances to act like brutes, have disrupted social order, en• croachcd upon personal liberty, and damaged public construction matcricl. 2 In contrast, a November 1945 police bureau report that targeted areas for im• mediate attention inferred that postsurrender violence and plunder had been instigated by suppressed bandits who had reemerged in 1945 to incite the cultur• ally deprived populace to commit crimes against the state.J More recent explana• tions, on the other hand, tend lo favor circumstantial (e.g., a political vacuum) or Nationalistic (e.g., anti-Japanese sentiment) explanations.• This essay offers an alternative theory.
Note: This is the original English-language version of an article published in Chinese in 2009. ... more Note: This is the original English-language version of an article published in Chinese in 2009. That Chinese article is among the papers included herein.
Abstract: This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century "Formosan landscapes" sketched by Charles Wm. Le Gendre (U.S. consul for Amoy) in his consular reports and illustsrated manuscript entitled Notes of travel in Formosa. Although Le Gendre provided detailed descriptions of Taiwan's territorial space, agricultural production, and commercial potential in his writings, this was only one aspect of his larger perspective. By focusing on Le Gendre's portrayals of northern, central and extreme southern Taiwan, I attempt to understand the entirety of Le Gendre's "Formosan landscapes." This perspective includes detailed analyses of Le Gendre's textual landscapes, as well as his maps, topgraphical sketches, geological sections, and photographic prints. From this broader analysis, we are able to better apprehend Le Gendre's multiple (and sometimes contradictory) perspectives of a single landscape, and to fully understand the techniques and discourses he employed to render his "faithful representations of such places."
![Research paper thumbnail of 那些地方的忠實再現’——李仙得（Charles Le Gendre）眼中的福爾摩沙風景（1868-1875）['Faithful representations of such places': Charles Le Gendre's Formosan landscapes (1868-1875)]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57100825/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century "Formosan landscapes" sketched by Charles Wm. L... more This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century "Formosan landscapes" sketched by Charles Wm. Le Gendre (U.S. consul for Amoy) in his consular reports and illustsrated manuscript entitled Notes of travel in Formosa. Although Le Gendre provided detailed descriptions of Taiwan's territorial space, agricultural production, and commercial potential in his writings, this was only one aspect of his larger perspective. By focusing on Le Gendre's portrayals of northern, central and extreme southern Taiwan, I attempt to understand the entirety of Le Gendre's "Formosan landscapes." This perspective includes detailed analyses of Le Gendre's textual landscapes, as well as his maps, topgraphical sketches, geological sections, and photographic prints. From this broader analysis, we are able to better apprehend Le Gendre's multiple (and sometimes contradictory) perspectives of a single landscape, and to fully understand the techniques and discourses he employed to render his "faithful representations of such places."
本論文探索了美國前駐廈門領事李仙得（Charles Le Gendre）所敘述、繪製的「福爾摩沙風景」是如何幫助他「忠實再現」此島嶼在1860–1870年代的自然環境。李仙得對台灣的領土觀點、商／農產品的資訊或戰略上的興趣僅是他更廣泛的福爾摩沙風景描述上的一小部分而以。在處理李仙得對三個地區（即台灣北部、台灣中南部以及恆春半島）的風景描述時，我嘗試擴大檢視的焦點，而將其以文字敘述、地圖、地質截面、地形略圖及拍攝照片等來描述風景的模式也加入一併討論。李仙得對同一個地點所採取的多重觀點（例如由海港凝望或親自量測地形、查考岩石與土壤等），以及其多重描述模式產生了複雜（有時互相矛盾）且拼湊組合的風景。此研究也發現李氏既然對恆春半島如此熟悉，但是關於該地自然風景的紀錄卻非常少。
In this paper, I seek to quantify and contextualize Xiamen's emigrant population between 1845 and... more In this paper, I seek to quantify and contextualize Xiamen's emigrant population between 1845 and 1911, including the "coolie" laborers shipped to the Caribbean, South America, and Australia; the "credit-ticket" and "free" Chinese passengers who traveled to Southeast Asia (especially Manila and the British Straits Settlements); and the seasonal Chinese laborers who were essential to the tea industry and infrastructural construction in the island of Taiwan, both before and after Japanese occupation in 1895. I do not attempt to examine these migrants' experiences after arriving at their various global destinations; other scholars have begun to address those other histories, though much more research is needed in order to highlight immigrant perspectives and lived experiences. Rather, what I seek to accomplish in this paper is a comprehensive treatment of the extent of Xiamen-based emigration during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and a comparative assessment of the mechanisms and networks that enabled this migration.
Between 1817 and 1867, officers and sailors of the British East India Company and the British Adm... more Between 1817 and 1867, officers and sailors of the British East India Company and the British Admiralty conducted numerous surveys of the ports and coastal waters of Taiwan and the Pescadores. Knowledge in the form of plans, charts, sketches, sailing directions, etc. produced via these surveys was transmitted to the Hydrographic Office in England, where
staff of the British Admiralty catalogued, cross-referenced, and summarized that information. Subsequently, Admiralty cartographers retrieved the stored data to create a series of official maps that transformed the maritime space surrounding Taiwan and the off-shore islands into the flat surface of numbered Admiralty maps. With time, these cartographic representations became the standard authority used by foreign ship captains, merchants, explorers, and consular agents attempting to navigate "Formosan waters."
Using this surveying of Taiwan as a case study, I seek to test claims regarding the roles played by British field agents in the development of "comprehensive knowledge of the peoples and territories" of the Qing empire. In particular, I examine the investigative practices and the epistemological objects of British surveyors, artists, and cartographers who produced the basic knowledge of Taiwan's maritime spaces. Secondly, I probe the impact of local knowledge, gained from fishermen, pilots, sailors, interpreters, officials, etc., in determining the content of the cartographic representations penned by British field agents.
Finally, I analyze both the modalities and the networks by which this field-level information was communicated to "centers of calculation" in England, where it was processed as part of
the larger epistemological complex of the British Empire.
This article examines the textual, cartographic and visual representations of Europeans and Ameri... more This article examines the textual, cartographic and visual representations of Europeans and Americans who visited the prefectural city of Taiwanfu, and its port of Anping, between 1842 and 1876. Tracing the development of EuroAmerican knowledge of the prefectural capital of Taiwan is the basic goal of this research. However, in this article, I also explore how contingencies of time and space, personal encounters with the physical environment, and culturally determined modes of apprehending space influenced the mappings of Taiwanfu
constructed by British, American, Russian, French, and Prussian visitors.
It may seem a rash attempt to endeavor to separate, into its different elements, the magic power ... more It may seem a rash attempt to endeavor to separate, into its different elements, the magic power exercised upon our minds by the physical world, since the character of the landscape, and of every imposing scene of nature, depends so materially upon the mutual relation of the ideas and sentiments simultaneously exercised in the mind of the observer. (Alexander von Humboldt, Cosmos, 1849) 2
This article examines the constitution of (and relationships between) aboriginal and Chinese comm... more This article examines the constitution of (and relationships between) aboriginal and Chinese communities on the Hengchun peninsula, 1850-874, in order to explore the impact
of foreign intrusion. It analyzes shifts in the boundaries of lived communities, and it studies the changing contours of social, political and economic pressures and processes that contributed to the evolution of human activity on the Hengchun peninsula. Ethnic communities boundaries, marriage networks, defense associations, and military alliances were examined to understand the major society-making effects on the peninsula during this historical period.
Drafts by Douglas Fix
本論文分析了朱利安·愛德華茲的商業和藝文活動，以便探討華南條約口岸社區的民族和社會輪廓、規範其邊界的法律和經濟衝突、以及將居民與更大的海洋世界聯繫起來的網絡和帝國間人口之流通。愛德華茲與歐亞和非... more 本論文分析了朱利安·愛德華茲的商業和藝文活動，以便探討華南條約口岸社區的民族和社會輪廓、規範其邊界的法律和經濟衝突、以及將居民與更大的海洋世界聯繫起來的網絡和帝國間人口之流通。愛德華茲與歐亞和非洲裔美國親戚、歐美商人和官員以及中國商人和苦力勞動者的糾纏揭示了條約口岸網絡的多維度和動態趨勢、領事論述的衝突性質以及邊緣人的複雜機動。
Change in Xiamen's status formalized by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 brought new webs of connect... more Change in Xiamen's status formalized by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 brought new webs of connections -- between the port city and its hinterland, through the regional maritime economy, and to a broader global world. It is those new networks (economic, social and political) that this paper attempts to analyze, by exploring the expanding entanglements of three unusual, but not unique, individuals: the consular interpreter Lin Zhen, the "Eurasian" photographer St. Julian Hugh Edwards, and the American marine surveyor John H. Coombs, all residents of nineteenth-century Xiamen, whose individual experiences reveal the complexities of change brought by new global connections.
Systematic analysis of the European and American representations of Taiwanese aborigines, in part... more Systematic analysis of the European and American representations of Taiwanese aborigines, in particular the indigenous peoples who inhabited the mountainous regions and the Hengchun peninsula, prior to the Japanese invasion of southern Taiwan in 1874. Findings are based on published writings by both well-known and obscure European and American officials, scholars, and global travelers, as well as the maps of Formosa produced by those individuals and their editors. (Unpublished paper presented at 帝國、邊區與流動：18、19世紀臺灣沿山社會秩序國際學術研討會 [International conference on the Qing empire, its borders and demographic flows: Social order among the borderlands in Taiwan, 1700-1900]. National Chi Nan University, Puli, Taiwan. 13-14 December 2018.)
We all turned our glasses towards the place he indicated, and sure enough, after a good and caref... more We all turned our glasses towards the place he indicated, and sure enough, after a good and careful look, we could make out something similar to the entrance of a narrow creek. While we were still intently searching for some landmark or other, smoke was seen to rise from behind the northern hummock, showing that we had arrived at a place where there was human life. It being then five minutes to noon, careful observations, and good cross-bearings of the hummocks, with a point of land that jutted out to the northward, were taken. The observations and bearings having been carefully recorded in the log, the topsail was again filled, and the staysail let draw. The helm was put up and the Eamont was allowed to proceed, by the lead, till within a cable's length of the white surf. The entrance between the hummocks at this closer view was now clearly discernible even with the naked eye. The indent was not deep in the coastline ; it looked as if we would have to haul sharply to either side when we rounded inside the hummocks. 1
With growing Chinese power and influence on the global stage, scholars in several disciplines hav... more With growing Chinese power and influence on the global stage, scholars in several disciplines have developed a new interest in the 'tribute system.' This course will examine the history of Ming and Qing dynasty foreign relations, beginning with maritime diplomacy directed by the eunuch Zheng He in the early fifteenth century and ending with the Qianlong Emperor's responses to the British Macartney mission in 1793. Following an initial discussion of tributary structure, its ideological origins in classical texts, and the principles and practices associated with long-term maintenance, weekly readings and analysis will be devoted to the following topics: the expansion of cartographic knowledge and textual representations of the world; 'vassal' (i.e., Japanese, Korean and Ryukyu) negotiations on the periphery; envoy pictures in the "Imperial portraits of tributaries" handscroll; European competition for recognition; the impact of Japanese sakoku 'closed country' edicts on Sino-Japanese relations; and questions related to discontent over gifts, guests and imperial rituals. Students will develop, research, write, and present a substantial research paper using primary and secondary sources.
Taiwan Historical Research, 2021
With reference to annual reports of the Customs, annual trade reports of the British consul, earl... more With reference to annual reports of the Customs, annual trade reports of the British consul, early investigations carried out by Japanese colonial officials, photographs and historical materials of various sources, this paper traces the evolution of the labor pool employed for second-stage tea processing by firms in Dadaocheng, Taiwan during the nineteenth century and the early Japanese colonial era. The size of this labor pool was estimated using specific data on tea-processing firms, annual tea export statistics, and firmbased employee figures. This paper also explores the gendered division of labor, working conditions for different tasks, and the brief historical data on wages for laborers involved in this second-stage processing of oolong and baozhong tea in northern Taiwan.
Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, 1895-1945: History, culture, memory, 2006
In the fall of 1945-after the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces but prior to... more In the fall of 1945-after the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces but prior to the formal takeover of Taiwan-some two or three hundred incidents of assault and theft in Taiwan were reported by the colonial police bu• reau. 1 Although contemporary newspapers, as well as latter-day memoirs and oral histories, briefly mention these incidents, few historians have given them much attention. Contemporary and historical accounts provide various explanations for this unlawful activity. A leaflet distributed in September 1945 in mid-Taiwan (with the intent of curtailing this activity) stated: Ignorant and stupid brothers, watching for the chance to commit wrongs and tak• ing advantage of circumstances to act like brutes, have disrupted social order, en• croachcd upon personal liberty, and damaged public construction matcricl. 2 In contrast, a November 1945 police bureau report that targeted areas for im• mediate attention inferred that postsurrender violence and plunder had been instigated by suppressed bandits who had reemerged in 1945 to incite the cultur• ally deprived populace to commit crimes against the state.J More recent explana• tions, on the other hand, tend lo favor circumstantial (e.g., a political vacuum) or Nationalistic (e.g., anti-Japanese sentiment) explanations.• This essay offers an alternative theory.
Note: This is the original English-language version of an article published in Chinese in 2009. ... more Note: This is the original English-language version of an article published in Chinese in 2009. That Chinese article is among the papers included herein.
Abstract: This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century "Formosan landscapes" sketched by Charles Wm. Le Gendre (U.S. consul for Amoy) in his consular reports and illustsrated manuscript entitled Notes of travel in Formosa. Although Le Gendre provided detailed descriptions of Taiwan's territorial space, agricultural production, and commercial potential in his writings, this was only one aspect of his larger perspective. By focusing on Le Gendre's portrayals of northern, central and extreme southern Taiwan, I attempt to understand the entirety of Le Gendre's "Formosan landscapes." This perspective includes detailed analyses of Le Gendre's textual landscapes, as well as his maps, topgraphical sketches, geological sections, and photographic prints. From this broader analysis, we are able to better apprehend Le Gendre's multiple (and sometimes contradictory) perspectives of a single landscape, and to fully understand the techniques and discourses he employed to render his "faithful representations of such places."
This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century "Formosan landscapes" sketched by Charles Wm. L... more This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century "Formosan landscapes" sketched by Charles Wm. Le Gendre (U.S. consul for Amoy) in his consular reports and illustsrated manuscript entitled Notes of travel in Formosa. Although Le Gendre provided detailed descriptions of Taiwan's territorial space, agricultural production, and commercial potential in his writings, this was only one aspect of his larger perspective. By focusing on Le Gendre's portrayals of northern, central and extreme southern Taiwan, I attempt to understand the entirety of Le Gendre's "Formosan landscapes." This perspective includes detailed analyses of Le Gendre's textual landscapes, as well as his maps, topgraphical sketches, geological sections, and photographic prints. From this broader analysis, we are able to better apprehend Le Gendre's multiple (and sometimes contradictory) perspectives of a single landscape, and to fully understand the techniques and discourses he employed to render his "faithful representations of such places."
本論文探索了美國前駐廈門領事李仙得（Charles Le Gendre）所敘述、繪製的「福爾摩沙風景」是如何幫助他「忠實再現」此島嶼在1860–1870年代的自然環境。李仙得對台灣的領土觀點、商／農產品的資訊或戰略上的興趣僅是他更廣泛的福爾摩沙風景描述上的一小部分而以。在處理李仙得對三個地區（即台灣北部、台灣中南部以及恆春半島）的風景描述時，我嘗試擴大檢視的焦點，而將其以文字敘述、地圖、地質截面、地形略圖及拍攝照片等來描述風景的模式也加入一併討論。李仙得對同一個地點所採取的多重觀點（例如由海港凝望或親自量測地形、查考岩石與土壤等），以及其多重描述模式產生了複雜（有時互相矛盾）且拼湊組合的風景。此研究也發現李氏既然對恆春半島如此熟悉，但是關於該地自然風景的紀錄卻非常少。
In this paper, I seek to quantify and contextualize Xiamen's emigrant population between 1845 and... more In this paper, I seek to quantify and contextualize Xiamen's emigrant population between 1845 and 1911, including the "coolie" laborers shipped to the Caribbean, South America, and Australia; the "credit-ticket" and "free" Chinese passengers who traveled to Southeast Asia (especially Manila and the British Straits Settlements); and the seasonal Chinese laborers who were essential to the tea industry and infrastructural construction in the island of Taiwan, both before and after Japanese occupation in 1895. I do not attempt to examine these migrants' experiences after arriving at their various global destinations; other scholars have begun to address those other histories, though much more research is needed in order to highlight immigrant perspectives and lived experiences. Rather, what I seek to accomplish in this paper is a comprehensive treatment of the extent of Xiamen-based emigration during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and a comparative assessment of the mechanisms and networks that enabled this migration.
Between 1817 and 1867, officers and sailors of the British East India Company and the British Adm... more Between 1817 and 1867, officers and sailors of the British East India Company and the British Admiralty conducted numerous surveys of the ports and coastal waters of Taiwan and the Pescadores. Knowledge in the form of plans, charts, sketches, sailing directions, etc. produced via these surveys was transmitted to the Hydrographic Office in England, where
staff of the British Admiralty catalogued, cross-referenced, and summarized that information. Subsequently, Admiralty cartographers retrieved the stored data to create a series of official maps that transformed the maritime space surrounding Taiwan and the off-shore islands into the flat surface of numbered Admiralty maps. With time, these cartographic representations became the standard authority used by foreign ship captains, merchants, explorers, and consular agents attempting to navigate "Formosan waters."
Using this surveying of Taiwan as a case study, I seek to test claims regarding the roles played by British field agents in the development of "comprehensive knowledge of the peoples and territories" of the Qing empire. In particular, I examine the investigative practices and the epistemological objects of British surveyors, artists, and cartographers who produced the basic knowledge of Taiwan's maritime spaces. Secondly, I probe the impact of local knowledge, gained from fishermen, pilots, sailors, interpreters, officials, etc., in determining the content of the cartographic representations penned by British field agents.
Finally, I analyze both the modalities and the networks by which this field-level information was communicated to "centers of calculation" in England, where it was processed as part of
the larger epistemological complex of the British Empire.
This article examines the textual, cartographic and visual representations of Europeans and Ameri... more This article examines the textual, cartographic and visual representations of Europeans and Americans who visited the prefectural city of Taiwanfu, and its port of Anping, between 1842 and 1876. Tracing the development of EuroAmerican knowledge of the prefectural capital of Taiwan is the basic goal of this research. However, in this article, I also explore how contingencies of time and space, personal encounters with the physical environment, and culturally determined modes of apprehending space influenced the mappings of Taiwanfu
constructed by British, American, Russian, French, and Prussian visitors.
It may seem a rash attempt to endeavor to separate, into its different elements, the magic power ... more It may seem a rash attempt to endeavor to separate, into its different elements, the magic power exercised upon our minds by the physical world, since the character of the landscape, and of every imposing scene of nature, depends so materially upon the mutual relation of the ideas and sentiments simultaneously exercised in the mind of the observer. (Alexander von Humboldt, Cosmos, 1849) 2
This article examines the constitution of (and relationships between) aboriginal and Chinese comm... more This article examines the constitution of (and relationships between) aboriginal and Chinese communities on the Hengchun peninsula, 1850-874, in order to explore the impact
of foreign intrusion. It analyzes shifts in the boundaries of lived communities, and it studies the changing contours of social, political and economic pressures and processes that contributed to the evolution of human activity on the Hengchun peninsula. Ethnic communities boundaries, marriage networks, defense associations, and military alliances were examined to understand the major society-making effects on the peninsula during this historical period.
本論文分析了朱利安·愛德華茲的商業和藝文活動，以便探討華南條約口岸社區的民族和社會輪廓、規範其邊界的法律和經濟衝突、以及將居民與更大的海洋世界聯繫起來的網絡和帝國間人口之流通。愛德華茲與歐亞和非... more 本論文分析了朱利安·愛德華茲的商業和藝文活動，以便探討華南條約口岸社區的民族和社會輪廓、規範其邊界的法律和經濟衝突、以及將居民與更大的海洋世界聯繫起來的網絡和帝國間人口之流通。愛德華茲與歐亞和非洲裔美國親戚、歐美商人和官員以及中國商人和苦力勞動者的糾纏揭示了條約口岸網絡的多維度和動態趨勢、領事論述的衝突性質以及邊緣人的複雜機動。
Change in Xiamen's status formalized by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 brought new webs of connect... more Change in Xiamen's status formalized by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 brought new webs of connections -- between the port city and its hinterland, through the regional maritime economy, and to a broader global world. It is those new networks (economic, social and political) that this paper attempts to analyze, by exploring the expanding entanglements of three unusual, but not unique, individuals: the consular interpreter Lin Zhen, the "Eurasian" photographer St. Julian Hugh Edwards, and the American marine surveyor John H. Coombs, all residents of nineteenth-century Xiamen, whose individual experiences reveal the complexities of change brought by new global connections.
Systematic analysis of the European and American representations of Taiwanese aborigines, in part... more Systematic analysis of the European and American representations of Taiwanese aborigines, in particular the indigenous peoples who inhabited the mountainous regions and the Hengchun peninsula, prior to the Japanese invasion of southern Taiwan in 1874. Findings are based on published writings by both well-known and obscure European and American officials, scholars, and global travelers, as well as the maps of Formosa produced by those individuals and their editors. (Unpublished paper presented at 帝國、邊區與流動：18、19世紀臺灣沿山社會秩序國際學術研討會 [International conference on the Qing empire, its borders and demographic flows: Social order among the borderlands in Taiwan, 1700-1900]. National Chi Nan University, Puli, Taiwan. 13-14 December 2018.)
We all turned our glasses towards the place he indicated, and sure enough, after a good and caref... more We all turned our glasses towards the place he indicated, and sure enough, after a good and careful look, we could make out something similar to the entrance of a narrow creek. While we were still intently searching for some landmark or other, smoke was seen to rise from behind the northern hummock, showing that we had arrived at a place where there was human life. It being then five minutes to noon, careful observations, and good cross-bearings of the hummocks, with a point of land that jutted out to the northward, were taken. The observations and bearings having been carefully recorded in the log, the topsail was again filled, and the staysail let draw. The helm was put up and the Eamont was allowed to proceed, by the lead, till within a cable's length of the white surf. The entrance between the hummocks at this closer view was now clearly discernible even with the naked eye. The indent was not deep in the coastline ; it looked as if we would have to haul sharply to either side when we rounded inside the hummocks. 1
This paper, published in 2005, was my first attempt to examine the nature of Charles Le Gendre's ... more This paper, published in 2005, was my first attempt to examine the nature of Charles Le Gendre's collaboration with a broad range of individuals (photographers, a painter, interpreters, local guides, missionaries, merchants, diplomats, customs officials, Chinese officials, village headmen, aboriginal leaders, chair coolies) to produce a book of knowledge regarding the island of Taiwan: "Notes of travel in Formosa."
n/a, 2021
Syllabus and supplementary readings for "Cameras & Photography in 19th-century East Asia," a cour... more Syllabus and supplementary readings for "Cameras & Photography in 19th-century East Asia," a course that examined the early history of photography in China and Japan. Attention given to the complex (and disparate) technological histories of the medium, the varied uses to which the camera was put, and the impact of this new technology upon visual cultures in China and Japan. The dissemination of photographs into other media (e.g., engravings, postcards) and the impact of consumer preferences upon content and style will also examined. Travel landscapes, studio portraits, ethnographic 'race cards,' documentary images and battle photos, by EuroAmerican, Japanese and Chinese photographers, are among the visual data analyzed. Other sources include optical treatises, travel literature, medical journals, government reports, and private scrapbooks.
This course examines the history of rice in East Asia as crop, food, commodity, genetic resource ... more This course examines the history of rice in East Asia as crop, food, commodity, genetic resource and symbol. How were institutions of social cohesion in China and Japan influenced by the particular demands of, and a commitment to, small-scale, labor-intensive riziculture? When and how were relations between consumer tastes and rice markets mediated by "rice masters"? What roles has rice played in linking the histories of East Asia, Southeast Asia and the world between 1000 and the present? How did the "green revolution" alter that regional regime of rice cultivation, exchange and consumption? These and other questions will be explored in multi-disciplinary fashion with a broad range of original data and recent historiography.
Course description: This course examines the early history of photography in China and Japan. Att... more Course description: This course examines the early history of photography in China and Japan. Attention will be given to the complex (and disparate) technological histories of the medium, the varied uses to which the camera was put, and the impact of this new technology upon visual cultures in China and Japan. The dissemination of photographs into other media (e.g., engravings, postcards) and the impact of consumer preferences upon content and style will also be examined. Travel landscapes, studio portraits, ethnographic 'race cards,' documentary images and battle photos, by EuroAmerican, Japanese and Chinese photographers, are among the visual data to be analyzed. Other sources include optical treatises, travel literature, medical journals, government reports, and private scrapbooks.
This course surveys the history of late imperial China (fourteenth through eighteenth centuries) ... more This course surveys the history of late imperial China (fourteenth through eighteenth centuries) by examining several critical issues in the history and historiography of this period. Weekly discussions will address the following topics: powerful emperors, their officials and critics; maritime expansion in the Zheng He voyages; The Four Books and the civil service examination; expanding society and popular culture; local scholars and their popular tales; painting, theatricality and posttraumatic art; peasant rebellion, Manchu conquest and the Ming/Qing cataclysm; revisionist histories of footbinding; maps, cartographic and geographic imaginaries; painting, ethnicity and ethnography on Qing frontiers; monks, sorcery and hair clipping; and the growth of a "bureaucratic monarchy."
Indigenous mariners and merchants had traversed the oceans of East and Southeast Asia long before... more Indigenous mariners and merchants had traversed the oceans of East and Southeast Asia long before Europeans first ventured into those seas. By 1600 Chinese and Japanese sealords and interlopers had created vast networks of migration and exchange, peppered with conflict and violence, from Siam & Malacca to Ryukyu & Nagasaki. This seminar explores the social and cultural history of this early modern maritime world. Selective topics include: Zheng He's Indian Ocean voyages; designated ports and unruly hinterlands; sea-born migrations and translocal connections; regional cults and sea goddesses' miracles; merchants, supercargoes and the vicissitudes of maritime trade; competing maritime cartographies; pirates and the business of violence; ocean archaeology and mariculture ethnographies; and hybrid identities in a maritime world.
Between Japan's stunning defeat of Russia in 1905 and its invasion of northern China in 1937, cit... more Between Japan's stunning defeat of Russia in 1905 and its invasion of northern China in 1937, citizens of Japan rushed headlong into all manner of modern culture, creating and consuming the forerunners of several well-know forms of contemporary Japanese cultural production. After a brief introduction to the social and economic transformation of Japan in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries, this course will address the following topics: silent film and benshi narrators; photography for everyone; detective fiction as a source for modern Japanese novels; cosmetics, advertising and design in department stores; popular songs and jazz, the "modern girl" and the eroticized cafe waitress; the gender-bending Takarazuka Revue; the origins of Japan's national love affair with baseball; and "middle-classness" and the reform of everyday life.
In China today, few environments change more rapidly than those in major metropolitan centers. Un... more In China today, few environments change more rapidly than those in major metropolitan centers. Uncontrollable hyper growth, large floating populations, and insufficient resources & infrastructure all make efficient urban planning and healthy community development difficult to achieve. This course will examine the origins of these current challenges, as well as solutions posed to solve earlier problems, both imagined and real. Topics to be addressed will include: imperial models and spatial legacies; treaty ports, bunds and foreign concessions; rural migration, sojourning and movement between cities; hinterlands, regional networks and global connections; revolutionary hygiene and public health; department stores, desire industries & Shanghai fashion; the interwar lifestyles of petty urbanites and Westernized capitalists; covert political communities and urban labor organizing; wartime destruction and relocation; purifying the decadent city via socialist governance; hutongs, alleyway houses and rebuilt residential space; and reassessing the colonial past and the globalized present in China's megacities.
With growing Chinese power and influence on the global stage, scholars in several disciplines hav... more With growing Chinese power and influence on the global stage, scholars in several disciplines have developed a new interest in the 'tribute system.' This course will examine the history of Ming and Qing dynasty foreign relations, beginning with maritime diplomacy directed by the eunuch Zheng He in the early fifteenth century and ending with the Qianlong Emperor's responses to the British Macartney mission in 1793. Following an initial discussion of tributary structure, its ideological origins in classical texts, and the principles and practices associated with long-term maintenance, weekly readings and analysis will be devoted to the following topics: the expansion of cartographic knowledge and textual representations of the world; 'vassal' (i.e., Japanese, Korean and Ryukyu) negotiations on the periphery; envoy pictures in the "Imperial portraits of tributaries" handscroll; European competition for recognition; the impact of Japanese sakoku 'closed country' edicts on Sino-Japanese relations; and questions related to discontent over gifts, guests and imperial rituals. Students will develop, research, write, and present a substantial research paper using primary and secondary sources.