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H-ASIA April 5, 2007 Chinese scholars and Chinese history (response) ****************************************************************** From: Paul H. Kratoska <kratoska@nus.edu.sg> I would like to suggest that the nationality of the person standing in the front of the classroom is less important than the set of ideas that person draws on in preparing teaching materials. There seems to be a common perception that (apart from the language used) courses taught in Asia are the same as courses taught in North America because so many professors have studied in Western universities and use the same canonical literature. However, universities in the countries of Southeast Asia (and presumably in other parts of Asia as well) generally have two discussions underway, one revolving around whatever issues and theories are driving international scholarship, the other dealing with a set of issues that play no part in international scholarship. For an example, see Thongchai Winnichakul's article "The Changing Landscape of the Past: New Histories in Thailand Since 1973" in _The Journal of Southeast Asian Studies_ 26, 1 [March 1995]: 99-120, which discusses a set of concerns that preoccupied Thai academics in the early 1990s. If courses on Asia taught in the US (or Europe or Australia) are limited to materials that do not take Asian scholarship (as opposed to foreign scholarship on Asia) into account, the issue may well be something that should be addressed. It would be interesting to know if this is the case. It is instructive to consider the sources consulted by writers of textbooks used in courses on Asian studies. A cursory look at the additional readings cited in Rhodes Murphy's A History of Asia suggests that they are predominantly written by non-Asians, and I think all are published in North America. Whether this is a problem is hard to say, but it does seem to raise questions about whether the thinking of Asian academics in Asia is represented in the book. In about three months I will publish a book entitled _A New East Asia: Perspectives from Japan_, edited by MORI Kazuko and HIRANO Kenichiro (Singapore: NUS Press, June 2007). This volume contains a series of papers presented at Waseda University in Tokyo that summarize discussions taking place in Japan and Korea about the nature of the "East Asian community" and the need for a new "contemporary Asian Studies". The authors argue that it is necessary to contemplate an East Asian community formed on a basis other than the nation state and suggests ways this might be done. They also criticize the grip that American social sciences have exercised over Asian studies. The collection opens a window on the thinking prevalent in some academic circles in Asia, and books like this offer one way of presenting Asian perspectives to Western students. Dr Paul H. Kratoska Managing Director NUS Press (formerly Singapore University Press) National University of Singapore ************************************************************************* To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/
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