Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Logic Of Objects, David B. Eichelberger

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The human mind assimilates information and experiences quickly and constantly, and is aided by mental systems that we rely on to function. We classify the input of our lives with extreme efficiency. Our notions about the things we encounter in the world are learned from past experiences, and these expectations help us file the data of our lives. My work is composed to create pause. I am interested in slowing down the processes of assimilation by manipulating our expectations, and extending events measured in microseconds into saturated and engaging experiences. Functional qualities, visual rhythms, and exaggerated proportions are some of …

Experiencing Women’S History As A Documentary Editor, Ann D. Gordon

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

This is a modest revision of a paper written for a panel on the past and future of historical editing at the annual meeting of the Association for Documentary Editing in 2008. I thank Esther Katz for reading it in my stead. Richard Leffler edited the original and made valuable recommendations. This list of the women whose papers have received editorial treatment is not an exhaustive one. For Addams, see The Jane Addams Papers [microfilm] , ed. Mary Lynn McCree Bryan, (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1984), and The Selected Papers of Jane Addams, eds. Mary Lynn McCree Bryan, …

“Dangerous Thoughts”? Margaret Sanger’S World Trip Journal, Japan, 1922, Peter C. Engelman

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Sanger’s longest and, I would argue, most significant piece of travel writing was her 1922 World Trip Journal, which chronicles her six-month tour to discuss birth control in Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Ceylon, with stops in Yemen and Egypt, vacation time on the European continent, and a major conference in London. Coming just a few months after she formed the American Birth Control League in New York, the world tour raised Sanger’s international profile and gave her increased prominence at home, solidifying her leadership of the American movement. My focus in what follows is on the first leg …

An Assessment Of Recent Developments In Historical Editing, Jennifer E. Steenshorne

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

The American historical editing profession has a rich and varied history of publishing projects ranging from the collected papers of great men and women to diaries of relatively obscure individuals. However, one senses that as the profession enters the twenty-first century, as new technologies appear, and as boundaries between disciplines are blurred, the profession is at a loss as to where to place itself. This article is based on a survey of current projects, both in the United States and internationally, from a variety of disciplines, and in both traditional print and new media. My aim is to broaden our …

Scholarly Editing In A Web 2.0 World: Presidential Address, October 16, 2009, Cathy Moran Hajo

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

How many of you remember when the World Wide Web was new? I remember being thrilled by the things I could do, the information that I could find quickly, and the ability to spread the word about our work. I also remember being unsure how the Web would change the practice of editing. Lately, the design advances and the use of Web technology often described in shorthand as Web 2.0 have made me feel that way again. I am excited about the possibilities, but uncertain about some of the underlying premises of Web 2.0 and what it might mean to …

Review Of The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839. Edited By Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-Mcgee, And Richard L. Jensen., Kenneth P. Minkema

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

With the long-anticipated appearance of the first volume of The Joseph Smith Papers, a landmark project in American religious history and in Mormon Studies commences. Containing the scribal and printed remains of the founder and organizer of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Joseph Smith Papers, when completed, will amount to some thirty-two volumes—a phenomenal undertaking in an age when the magisterial, multi-volume printed edition is an endangered species. Under the general editorship of distinguished historians Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman, the edition is arranged in six series: Journals, Documents, Revelations and …

In Memoriam: W. W. Abbot (1922–2009), Making Something Of Life, Philander D. Chase

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

George Washington, Bill Abbot wrote in his 1989 essay “An Uncommon Awareness of Self,” “saw life as something a person must make something of.” Several years of patiently editing Washington’s pre-Revolutionary papers had left Bill “with the impression of a man driven to master every aspect of his life and to make the most of what life offered.” Anyone who had the privilege of working with Bill Abbot, particularly during his long and distinguished documentary editing career spanning the last third of his life, is left with a similar impression of Bill himself.

Life Service Award Presented To Rich Leffler, John P. Kaminski

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

I have known Rich Leffler for more than forty years. We both came to the University of Wisconsin in 1967 as graduate students in the Department of History. He came from New York and I from Chicago. Rich started to work informally with the Ratification project in 1969–70, when he went to Raleigh, North Carolina, to do research on his dissertation. He searched libraries for the Ratification project, the First Federal Elections project, and the First Federal Congress project. Officially, Rich started to work full time on the project in 1973, first as a researcher, then as assistant editor, associate …

Coming Distractions: Postcards From Tomorrow Square

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat has been faithfully following James Fallows’s reports for the Atlanticfrom first Shanghai and now Beijing since he moved to China in 2006. His reports have covered topics from China’s international image to the financial crisis to theGreat Firewall, and he blogs regularly at the Atlantic‘s website. Fallows’s reports have now been gathered together in a collection, Postcards from Tomorrow Square, that will be available for purchase tomorrow. Over email, Fallows chatted with Kate Merkel-Hess about the new book and his thoughts about reporting from China.

Kate Merkel-Hess: Your forthcoming book Postcards from Tomorrow Square is a collection of …

Reading Round-Up: 12/18/09

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat will be going on vacation for the next two weeks, and will return in 2010. Before we sign off for the holidays, here are a few stories that have caught our eye lately:

1. In the Business Standard, Pallavi Aiyar writes that the “Ghosts of Beijing Lurk in Brussels.” Moving from Beijing to Brussels, Aiyar was anticipating a departure from the relentless cycle of urban destruction and construction that had marked her years in China:

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at Schuman, the headquarters of the European Union and a 10-minute drive from downtown Brussels, to scenes …

In Case You Missed It: Learning From Hangzhou, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I took this photo on my first day in Hangzhou when I arrived there in July 2005 for a six-week Chinese language course. I didn’t find the billboard especially interesting, but one of my friends hails from Kohler, Wisconsin, and I thought he might enjoy seeing that his hometown is known in a Chinese city that I’m fairly certain he had never heard of before I announced I would be spending the summer there. At the time, I didn’t give much thought to the billboard itself, or the thousands of other advertisements affixed to the sides of buildings, encircling construction …

China-Related Talks Around The World

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. On December 14-15, the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California will be holding a “Colloquium on China Media Studies” (RSVP required). For those not able to attend, the event will be live-streamed at the above link, beginning at noon PST on December 14.

2. Ken Pomeranz will be giving two talks in Japan next week:

December 16, 2009: Kyoto University. Participant in the “Changing Nature of ‘Nature’: New Perspectives in Transdisciplinary Field Science” conference sponsored by the Global Center of Excellence on a Sustainable Humanssphere.

December 18, 2009: Tokyo University. “Land rights and …

Around The Web: Janus-Faced Links

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

As December moves on, assessing the highs and lows of 2009 takes up more and more of our time — and this year, we have the added task of summing up the entire “00” decade. Below, some recent stories that say goodbye to 2009 (a little bit early), and one that says hello to 2010 (also a bit early).

1. We’ve recently seen several “best books of the year” lists, but not many of their selections have links to China — reflecting the fact that 2009 was something of an off-year in the China-related publishing field (especially compared to the …

The Tibet Question

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“A Peking University student takes notes at a lecture titled ‘the Tibet question’ (you can just make out the Chinese for that at the top-right of his page). This student hardly ever put his pen down, while a few seats down from him another dozed happily.” —Alec Ash

On The Web: Local Connections, National Reflections Webcast

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations will hold its third annual CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections tonight, beginning at 8p.m. EST. In addition to a nationwide webcast by Kurt M. Campbell, there will be discussions in nearly 40 cities across the U.S. and China, focusing on topics tied to the interests of the local community (a full list of locations and speakers is available at the above link). The webcast will be available for all to view online tomorrow at the National Committee’s website.

Holiday Gift Guide 2009

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

If shopping for holiday gifts has you stymied, China Beat is here to help. We’ve put together a list of China-related books that will make great gifts — and all of them are appropriate for the general-interest reader.

For: The Nostalgic Reader

Earnshaw Books has been reprinting a number of older books, including many expat memoirs from early 20th century China. We’ve previously reviewed Shanghai: High Lights, Low Lights, Tael Lights, an entertaining glimpse into 1930s Shanghai penned by Maurine Karns and Pat Patterson. The press is also releasing a three-volume set of drawings by White Russian cartoon artist Sapajou, …

Reading Round-Up: December 3, 2009

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. We’ve discussed Lu Xun quite a lot lately, and more great Lu Xun-related stories keep coming our way. At Inside-Out China, Xujun Eberlein writes about her own memories of reading Lu Xun as a high-school student during the 1970s. Eberlein also comments on Lu Xun’s work as a translator, as well as the fact that “His scathing style was extensively mimicked by the Red Guards for faction fighting during the Cultural Revolution, a consequence he wouldn’t have dreamed of.”

A diary kept by Chinese writer Lin Yutang between 1929 and 1932 has just come to light, and provides insight …

The Forbidden City And American Presidents

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

With all of the attention generated by Barack Obama’s speed-touring of Beijing sites, we became interested in finding out a bit about previous presidential sightseeing itineraries. There were some useful summaries on the web of what Nixon and company had said about the Great Wall, but what about the Forbidden City as a presidential tourist attraction, past and present? This complex of palaces, which are the subject of a recent book by Geremie Barmé that we’ve praised already on this blog, would seem a more problematic place to include on the go-to lists for foreign dignitaries, given its links to …

Understanding Folk Dance And Gypsy Style In Selected Pieces For Clarinet And Piano By 20th Century Hungarian Composers: An Interpretive Guide, Jessica Vansteenburg

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

Hungary has a long and rich history of folk music and dance. The clarinet has played a part in this history and remains a popular instrument in the country. Clarinet is most often associated with the verbunkos and is a regular member of the Gypsy band. The desire for composers of art music to compose in the folk tradition grew out of Hungarian nationalism in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century partly due to political pressures and the value of tradition in Hungarian music education.
Following a historical overview of the folk music and dance tradition in …

Self-Advocacy Of Women In Sexualized Labor, 1880–1980s, Kim Marie Matthews

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study is to centralize, into women's history, the marginalized historical voices of women activists working in sexualized labor (and/or those using sexualized economic strategies). This thesis situates the work of Josie Washburn, a former madam who turned self advocate in 1907, squarely within the Progressive Era debate on prostitution, By centralizing women's voices of sexualized lahor, it provides a means to track the long-term evolution of the intersections between women's sexualized labor choices, traditional labor choices, self-advocacy, popular media, and social/political movements on behalf of women. This study asserts that a majority Progressive Era working women …

Chongqing Castle

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“In Chongqing, the old town of Ciqikou looms over a more modern addition by the riverbank. This kid was more interested in her bouncy throne than in the juxtaposition of her city’s ancient past and booming present.”

—Alec Ash

Lu Xun And Translation

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I recently wrote an essay called “China’s Orwell” for the Asian edition of Time Magazine. In the article, I deal with the conundrum of Lu Xun’s enormous influence within China yet continued relative obscurity outside of the Sinophone world. Among other things, I ponder the possibility that an attractive new collection of his complete fiction, which features spirited translations by Julia Lovell and was published as part of the Penguin Classics series (click here for a “Paper Republic” interview with the translator about the book), could help right this imbalance by introducing figures such as Ah-Q to Western readers who …

Obama In China: Final Thoughts

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

President Obama’s trip to China is now in the past, though there might be a postscript when the U.N. Climate Change Conference convenes in Copenhagen next month, as how China and the U.S. would cooperate (or not) in dealing with environmental issues was a major topic during Obama’s meetings with Chinese leaders. As a final look back at Obama’s first trip to China, here are several readings that put his visit in a larger context:

1. Timothy Garton Ash writes about “Two Ways for West to Meet China”, arguing that Western countries could choose between two strategies when dealing with …

China’S Lincolnophilia, Alan Wachman

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Abraham Lincoln’s stance on national unity during the U.S. Civil War and his opposition to the institution of slavery have been summoned up by PRC officials, media, and elites in efforts to explain and legitimate their own response to those they disparage as “separatists” in Taiwan and Tibet.

To Beijing, vigorously opposing separatism and preserving Chinese territorial integrity is a cause no less noble than was Abraham Lincoln’s resort to war as a way of preventing the secession of southern states. In its quest for moral authority, Beijing has recalled the rhetoric and …

Vietnam Blocks Facebook, Caroline Finlay

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Writer Caroline Finlay has written for China Beat in the past about Southeast Asian news stories that have a China angle. Here, she draws parallels between Internet controls in Vietnam and those in China. She’s written about speech issues in Vietnam before, for instance see “Vietnam Youth Given Rare Chance to Protest–Against China” from May 2008.

Facebook users have begun having difficulty logging on to the social networking site, the Associated Press and the Inter Press Service reported on November 17th.

News agencies are citing an unverified document that says it’s from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security and states, “For …

“Caijing Is Dead, Long Live Caijing”, Scott Kennedy

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the past few weeks, the coverage of the fall of Caijing and the exodus of its staff has read almost like an obituary. During its eleven years in production, Caijingbenefitted from protection from patrons as well as the deft leadership of its editor, Hu Shuli, who has a sixth sense for knowing where the boundaries of permissibility sit and how to move them. The result was a record of breaking myriad stories of serious corruption and poor governance. Over the years, a couple issues were temporarily held up for “technical” reasons, but Caijing appeared to have regularly escaped the …

The Good, The Bad, And The Boring: Barack Obama’S China Trip In Review, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Barack Obama spent fewer than three days in China, but his first trip there has been a week-long story in the news world, as countless journalists, academics, and pundits have shared their thoughts about what this visit could do for U.S.-China relations. Now that the president has left the PRC, how did it all go? Obama Administration officials are speaking highly of it, claiming that Obama was forceful in private meetings with Hu Jintao and the rest of the Chinese leadership. And perhaps the devil is in the details, as political scientist David Shambaugh says, speaking favorably of the joint …

Around The Web…

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. Many of us around here have been spending time over the last couple of years thinking about the growing number of China-India connections (as well as their historical antecedents), so we’re always pleased to find another blog from an Indian journalist or writer covering China. But “China India Citizens’ Initiative” takes the genre a step further, encouraging people-to-people dialogue between Chinese and Indians. Recent post topics include the role of the Dalai Lama, coverage of the Berlin Wall anniversary, and issues in Chinese-Indian trade.

2. Alec Ash of Six (who also contributes bi-weekly photos to China Beat), drew our …

Coming Distractions: The Wobbling Pivot

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Prominent Qing specialist Pamela Crossley of Dartmouth College has a new book coming out in February, The Wobbling Pivot, China Since 1800: An Interpretive History, which is aimed at general readers and is designed to be suitable as well for classes devoted to modern Chinese history. One theme in the book that is likely to be of special interest to those who follow this blog is her frequent discussion of similarities and differences over time in patterns of unrest and the way that the state and its representatives respond to challenges from below. Focusing largely on tensions and modes of …

Short Takes: More On Obama In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

All around the internet, China-watchers are commenting on Barack Obama’s inaugural China trip. Some links to check out:

1. At 11:40 PM Eastern Standard Time tonight, President Obama’s town hall meeting with students in Shanghai will go live on the White House website.

2. Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal asks “Is Barack Obama Unpopular in China?” Johnson explains that it seems initial enthusiasm for the president has dropped off in recent months:

Internet polls provide anecdotal evidence that China is just not as enamored with the U.S. now as in years past, when the U.S. was seen as …