Office: Department of History and Religious Studies, 211 Weaver Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Office Phone: (814) 863-0172
Office FAX: (814) 863-7840
University of Southern California,
Ph. D. (History)
Attended: 1989-1992
Fields: 1) Japanese intellectual history
2) Japanese
political & institutional history
3) Chinese
political & intellectual history
4) Religious
and cultural foundations of contemporary Japan
Dissertation: “Sai On (1682-1761) and Confucianism in the Early-Modern Ryukyu Kingdom”
University of Hawai’i at Manoa, M.A. (Asian Studies)
Attended: 1985-1987
Major Field: Japanese history
Minor Field: Japanese linguistics
University of Florida, B.A. (History)
Attended: 1979-1984 (B.A. 1983, Phi Beta Kappa)
Major: History
Minor: Asian Studies
Tenured and Tenure-Track Positions
Pennsylvania State University, 1997-Present
Associate Professor of History and East Asian Studies, 2008-present
Associate Professor of History, 2002-2008
Assistant Professor of History, 1997-2002
Courses: 1) World History (HIST 10 Syllabus) 2) Surveys of East Asia (HIST 174 Syllabus) (HIST 175 Syllabus); 3) Medieval Japan (HIST 480 Syllabus); 4) Modern Japan (HIST 481 syllabus); 5) Nationalism and Cultural Identity in Modern Japan (HIST 302W); 6) Independent studies & supervision of senior theses and graduate fields.
Eastern Washington University, 1992-1997
Assistant Professor of History, 1992-1997
Courses: 1) Surveys of East Asia; 2) Early Japan; 3) Modern Japan; 4) Early-modern China; 5) Independent studies; 6) Specialized undergraduate seminars; 7) Graduate seminars in historiography, East Asian history, and pedagogy
Textbook Series
1992-present: a series of textbooks featuring extensive graphical aids and unconventional topics that began as printed volumes in the early 1990s and are now entirely on the Web at: http://www.east-asian-history.net/textbooks. Designed specifically for my classes, these textbooks are also used by colleagues around the world (example) and the general public.
Making Japanese (modern Japanese cultural & political history)
Visiting Professorships and Other Teaching Experience
Senshū University (Kawasaki, Japan),
Occasional Guest Lecturer, 2008-present
University of Venice Ca' Foscari, Department of East Asian Studies, Guest Lecturer, May 2003 and May, 2004
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Centre de recherches sur le Japon, Invited Professor, May, 2000
Whitworth College
Guest Lecturer, Religion and Philosophy Department, fall semester,
1995
University of Southern California, 1989-1990
Teaching Assistant for a survey course in Korean history
Punahou School (Honolulu, Hawaii), 1986-1988
Teacher of Japanese language and Asian history
Monographs
Work in progress: "Shaking Up Japan: The Ansei Edo Earthquake of 1855"
Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics. University of Hawai'i Press, 1999. (Review by Ooms, Review by Roberts <423KB>, Review by Howell, Review by Wigen, Review by McCormak)
Edited Volume
Bettina Gramlich-Oka, co-editor. Economic Thought in Early-Modern Japan. Contributions include "Guiding Horses with Rotten Reins: Economic Thought in the Eighteenth-century Kingdom of Ryukyu" and Mark Metzler, co-author, "The Autonomy of Market Activity and the Emergence of Keizai Thought." Forthcoming, Brill.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters in English
"Origins of the Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism," forthcoming in the International Journal of Okinawan Studies.
"Making Destiny in the Kingdom of Ryukyu," forthcoming in John A. Tucker, ed., Dao: A Companion to Japanese Confucianism.
"Warding off Calamity in Japan: A Comparison of the 1855 Catfish Prints and the 1862 Measles Prints," forthcoming in East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, 2009 or 2010.
"Namazu-e: Catfish Prints of 1855," Andon (Publication of the Society for Japanese Arts), vol. 86, 2009.
"Money in the Kingdom of Ryukyu." Thomas Hirzel and Nanny Kim, eds., Metals, Monies, and Markets in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives. Special issue of Bunka-Wenhua, vol 17 (2008): 107-117.
"Recent Trends in Scholarship on the History of Ryukyu’s Relations with China and Japan." Hans Dieter Ölschleger, ed. Theories and Methods in Japanese Studies: Current State and Future Developments (Papers in Honor of Josef Kreiner). (Göttingen: Bonn University Press via V&R Unipress, 2007): 215-228.
Ruth Ludwin, co-author, "Folklore and Earthquakes: Native American Oral Traditions from Cascadia Compared with Written Traditions from Japan." L. Piccardi and W. B. Masse, eds., Myth and Geology (London: Geological Society of London, 2007): 67-94.
"Sai On’s Autobiography as Didactic Rhetoric" <275KB> Early Modern Japan: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 14 (2006): 40-50.
"The Politics of Culture in Early Twentieth Century Okinawa." Josef Kreiner, ed., Japaneseness versus Ryūkyūanism, Bonn, Germany: Bier'sche Verlagsanstalt, 2006: 59-70.
"Shaking Up Japan: Edo Society and the 1855 Catfish Picture Prints," <1.3MB> Journal of Social History, 39.4 (Summer, 2006): 1045-1077.
Gary Cross, co-author, "Japan, the U.S. and the Globalization of Children's Consumer Culture," Journal of Social History, 38.4 (Summer, 2005): 873-890.
"Jahana Noboru: Okinawan Activist and Scholar." <1.6MB> Anne Walthall, ed., The Human Tradition in Modern Japan. Scholarly Resources, 2002: 99-113.
"The Ryūkyū Shobun in East Asian and World History." Josef Kreiner, ed., Ryukyu in World History. Bonn, Germany: Bier'sche Verlagsanstalt, 2001: 279-304.
“Ryukyuan Uses of Chinese Confucianism.” Josef Kreiner, ed., Ryukyu in World History. Bonn, Germany: Bier'sche Verlagsanstalt, 2001: 167-180.
“Ambiguous Boundaries: Redefining Royal Authority in the Kingdom of Ryukyu.” <5MB> Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 60.1 (June, 2000): 89-123.
“Unspeakable Things: Ryukyuan Confucian Sai On’s Ambivalent Critique of Language and Buddhism.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 24.1-2 (Spring, 1997): 163-178.
“The Intersection of Politics and Thought in Ryukyuan Confucianism: Sai On’s Uses of Quan.” <3.3MB> Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 56.2 (December, 1996): 443-477.
“The Sages’ Scale in Japan: Nakae Tōju (1608-48) and Situational Weighing.” The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Fourth Series, vol. 6 (1991): 1-25 (awarded the 1990 Asiatic Society of Japan Prize).
Academic Articles in Japanese
"'Ryūkyū bijon' to Sai On" 「琉球ビジョン」と蔡温 (Visions of Ryukyu and Sai On). Shimatati しまたてぃ (島建て), No. 43 (October, 2007): 4-7.
"Okinawa aidentiti no rekishiteki hendō to sono jijō 沖縄アイデンティティの歴史的変動とその事情" [Changes in the nature and circumstances of Okinawan identity through history]. Hōsei daigaku kokusai Nihongaku kenkyū sentaa, ed., Okinawa no aidentitii 沖縄のアイデンティティー. Tokyo: Hōsei daigaku kokusai Nihongaku kenkyū sentaa, 2005: 38-46, 384-388.
"Nijusseiki ni okeru bunka to seiji no retorikku: 1940-nen no Okinawa hōgen ronsō o chūshin to shite" <1.1MB> 二十世紀における文化と政治のレトリック: 1940年の沖縄方言論争を中心として [The rhetoric of politics and culture in Okinawa from the standpoint of the 1940 language dispute], Dai-yonkai Okinawa kenkyū kokusai shinpōjiumu jikkō iinkai, eds., Sekai ni hiraku Okinawa Kenkyū 世界に拓く沖縄研究. Naha, Japan: Kinjō insatsu, 2003: 133-146.
“Sai On ni yoru jugaku riyō no sanmen: kagaku, ideorogii, retorikku” 蔡温による儒学利用の三面―科学・イデオロギー・レトリック [Three dimensions of Sai On’s uses of Confucianism: science, ideology, rhetoric], Okinawa bunka kenkyū, no. 25 (March, 1999): 25-32.
“Sai On no gakutō to shisō: toku ni bukkyō/shaka ron o chūshin to shite” <1.00MB> 蔡温の学統と思想―特に仏教・釈迦論を中心として [Sai On’s intellectual lineage and thought from the standpoint of his writing on Buddhism and Sakyamuni]. Okinawa bunka kenkyū, no. 23 (March, 1997): 1-38.
“Ryūkyū ōkoku ni okeru jugaku no seiritsu: sono tokuchō to rekishiteki jijō” 琉球王国における儒学の成立―その特徴と歴史的事情 [The development of Confucianism in the Ryukyu Kingdom: its characteristics and historical circumstances]. Shibun, no. 102 (March, 1994): 56-76.
“Sai On no Ryūkyū kokka ron” <4.82MB> 蔡温の琉球国家論 [Sai On’s theory of the Ryukyuan state]. Okinawa taimusu, serialized in three parts, 6-6 / 6-7 / 6-8, 1989.
“Ryūkyū no iseisha Sai On ni tsuite” 琉球の為政者蔡温について [Sai On: statesman of Ryukyu]. Gyokuryu kiyō, no. 7 (Kagoshima, Japan 1989): 40-47.
“Ajia jukyōshi ni okeru Sai On” <2.53MB> アジア儒教史における蔡温 [Sai On in East Asian Confucianism]. Ryūkyū shinpō, serialized in two parts, 8-17 / 8-19, 1988.
Book Reviews and Other Publications
Review of Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868-1930, by Gregory Clancey, The Journal of Japanese Studies, 34.1 (Winter, 2008): 103-106.
"Okinawa" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World: 1750 to the Present, Peter N. Stearns, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Review of Review of Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies: Selections from the Wartime Diaries of Ordinary Japanese, by Samuel Hideo Yamashita, American Journal of Education, 114.1 (November 2007 ): 165–167.
Review of Friends, Acquaintances, Pupils and Patrons—Japanese Intellectual Life in the Late Eighteenth Century: A Prosopographical Approach, by Anna Beerens, Monumenta Nipponica 62.2 (Summer, 2007): 221-223.
Review of Bonds of Civility: Aesthetic Networks and the Political Origins of Japanese Culture, by Eiko Ikegami, Journal of Social History, 40.1 (Fall, 2006): 251-253.
Review of The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigō Takamori, by Mark Ravina, The Journal of Asian Studies, 65.1 (February, 2006): 198-199.
Review of Prisoners from Nambu: Reality and Make-Believe in 17th-Century Japanese Diplomacy, by Reinier H. Hesselink, The Journal of Japanese Studies, 30.1 (2004): 159-163.
Review of The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590-1800, by Brett L. Walker, American Historical Review, 107.4 (October 2002): 1206-1207.
"Shinto," The Oxford Companion to the Body, Colin Blakemore and Sheila Jennett, Editors-in Chief (Oxford University Press: 2001): 593-594.
Review of The I Ching in Tokugawa Thought and Culture <280KB>, by Wai-ming Ng, Journal of Asian Studies, 60.1 (February, 2001): 223-4.
Review of Ghost of War: The Sinking of the Awa Maru and Japanese-American Relations <284KB>, 1945-1995, by Roger Dingman, Journal of Asian Studies, 58.4 (November, 1999): 1136-7.
Review of Interpreting Amida: History and Orientalism in the Study of Pure Land Buddhism <362KB>, by Galen Amstutz, Philosophy East and West, 49.3 (July, 1999): 284-6.
Review of Tokugawa Village Practice, by Herman Ooms, January 10, 1997 on H-Japan, a division of the Humanities Net internet discussion group.
Review of Deep Words: Miura Baien’s System of Natural Philosophy, by Rosemary Mercer, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 19.4 (December, 1992): 401-4.
Review of Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712), by John S. Brownlee, Journal of Asian Studies, 51.3 (August, 1992): 666-7.
Review of Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Neo-Confucianism: The Life and Thought of Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714), by Mary Evalyn Tucker, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 18.1 (March, 1991): 85-88.
Ongoing Projects:
My current research focus is on the social and cultural history of earthquakes in Japan, especially the 1855 Ansei Edo Earthquake. I am currently at work on a book-length study of this topic. As soon as it is finished I plan to turn my attention to a comprehensive history of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
"Popular Representations of the Ansei Edo Earthquake" (annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 2009, Chicago).
"Thoughts on the State of Okinawan Studies in North America and Europe" (keynote address, Center for Okinawan Studies conference "From Aza, through Sanzan, Loochoo, and Ryukyu, to Okinawa, to Uchinanchu Diaspora—Where is Okinawan Studies Headed?" March 2009, Honolulu).
"Interpreting Disaster in Bakumatsu Society: Readings of the 1855 Ansei Edo Earthquake" (annual meeting of the Asian Studies Conference Japan, June 2008, Tokyo).
"Depicting Upheaval: The 1855 Namazu-e and the 1862 Hashika-e" (annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, April 2008, Atlanta).
"Bakufu Responses to the Ansei Edo Earthquake of 1855" (meeting of the Southern Japan Seminar, Florida International University, February, 2008).
"The Ansei Edo Earthquake of 1855 as a Political Event" (Columbia University Modern Japan Seminar, December 2007, New York).
"Ryukyu and Sino-Japanese Trade" (annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 2007, Boston).
"Money in the Kingdom of Ryukyu," Monies, Markets and Finance in China and East Asia, 1600-1900, Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg, October 12-16, 2006.
Ruth Ludwin, co-author. Poster presentation: "Evolution of the catfish (namazu) as an earthquake symbol in Japan" <10MB PDF> (Seismological Society of America Conference, April 2006, San Francisco). (Printable handout <4MB PDF>)
"Romantic Ryukyu in Okinawan Politics: The Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism" (annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, April 2006, San Francisco).
"Recent Trends in Scholarship on the History of Ryukyu’s Relations with China and Japan," (Symposium: State, Current Developments and Future Tasks in Japanese Studies, Bonn University, Germany, 3 February 2006).
Discussant for the panel "Romantic Ryukyu in Okinawa Politics" (11th Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies; History, Politics and International Relations section, Vienna, Austria August 31 - September 3, 2005).
"Autobiography as Allegory: Sai On’s Jijoden" (11th Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies; History, Politics and International Relations section, Vienna, Austria August 31 - September 3, 2005).
"Responses to the Ansei Edo Earthquake of 1855" (Conference on Natural Disaster in Asian History, Culture, and Memory, National University of Singapore, August 26-27, 2005).
"Autobiography as Allegory: Sai On’s Jijoden" (Meeting of the Early-Modern Japan Network in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 2005, Chicago).
"Okinawa aidentiti no rekishiteki hendō to sono jijō 沖縄アイデンティティの歴史的変動とその事情" (Changes in the nature and circumstances of Okinawan identity through history) (Okinawa Identity International Symposium, Hōsei University, Tama Campus, March 9, 2004).
“The Politics of Culture in Early Twentieth-Century Okinawa” (4th International Conference on Okinawan Studies, March 26, 2002, Bonn, Germany).
“The Politics of Medicine in the Ryukyu Kingdom” (Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, March 2000, San Diego).
“Picturing Ōbei: Japanese Images of the West, 19th and 20th Centuries” (Meeting of the Semiotic Society of America, 10-30-99, Pittsburgh).
“Sai On ni yoru jugaku riyō no sanmen: kagaku, ideorogii, retorikku” 蔡温による儒学の三面：科学・イデオロギー・レトリック [Three dimensions of Sai On’s uses of Confucianism: science, ideology, rhetoric] (International symposium in Ryukyuan studies sponsored by Hōsei University’s Center for Research in Okinawan Culture, Naha, Japan, November 29, 1998).
“Universality and Particularity in the Religious Praxis of Nakae Tōju” (conference of the American Academy of Religion/Society for Biblical Literature, 11-21-1998, Orlando, FL).
“Ryukyuan Uses of Chinese Confucianism” (Symposium on “Ryukyu in the History of East Asia, Asia and the World,” Bonn University, September 30, 1998).
“Ryūkyū no sho-bijon” 琉球の諸ビジョン [Visions of Ryukyu] (Symposium on Ryukyuan Studies in the United States, Ryukyu University, June 21, 1998) <more>.
“Tentō Thought in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Japan” (meeting of the Columbia University Seminar in Neo-Confucian Studies, May 1, 1998).
“Comparative Anxieties: Words and Images, Europe and East Asia, Fifteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries” (112th annual meeting of the American Historical Association, Seattle, WA, January 10, 1998).
Discussant for the panel “Chinese Intellectual Expression” (meeting of the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Ogden, UT, October 26, 1996).
“Incipient Nationalism?—Two Ryukyuan Responses to Japanese Domination” (48th annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Honolulu, April, 1996).
“Between China and Japan: Ryukyuan Intellectual Responses to Japanese Domination, 1650-1750” (meeting of the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Lewiston, ID, September 30, 1995).
“The Kikoe Ōgimi: From Empowering Agent to Expedient Device” (2nd international symposium of the International Society for Ryukyuan Studies, March 24, 1994, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University).
“Politics and History in Ryukyuan Confucianism: Sai On’s Use of Quan” (meeting of the Columbia University Seminar in Neo-Confucian Studies, April 2, 1993).
“Sai On to jūhasseiki no Ryūkyū ōkoku” 蔡温と十八世紀の琉球王国 [Sai On and the Eighteenth-Century Ryukyu Kingdom] (meeting of the Hayato Kenkyūkai, Kagoshima, Japan, May 5, 1988).
“The Eighteenth-Century Ryukyu Kingdom: Confucianism and Statecraft” (40th annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, San Francisco, March, 1988).
Major
Administrative Work
Penn State:
SARI Program (graduate) history representative 2009-2010
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Asian Studies, 2008-2010
Director of Undergraduate Studies, history, 2001-2004
Director of the East Asian Studies major and minor (now Asian Studies), 1999-2004, 2005-2008
Honors Advisor, history, 2001-2002
Webmaster, History Dept., 2001-2004
Eastern Washington:
Director of Graduate Studies, 1995-1997
Major Service on Committees
Chair, 20th-Century China Search Committee 2008-9 (suspended owing to budget cuts), 2009-2010
Promotion and Tenure Committee, History Department, 2006-7, 2007-8, 2008-9, 2009-10
Chair, East Asian Studies Committee (College), 2005-2008
Other Service on Committees
At Penn State University: Administrative Committee (department); Early Modern Studies Group (department); Undergraduate Committee (department) Graduate Studies Committee (department); Graduate Evaluation Committee (department); Speakers Committee (department); Chair, Computer & Technology Committee (department); Administrative Committee (department); Policy Committee (department); East Asian Studies Committee (college); several search ad hoc committees (department)
At Eastern Washington University: University Labs Steering Committee (university); General Undergraduate Requirements Committee (university); Graduate Affairs Council (university); Academic Computing Council (university); Graduate Committee (chair, department); Outside member of approximately a dozen MA committees (university); Gifted Program Advisory Committee, (Cheney School District).
Public Lectures and Tours
Throughout my academic career I have given public lectures in a variety of forums. Some recent examples include: "The 1855 Ansei Edo Earthquake as a Political Event," "Royal Authority in the Kingdom of Ryukyu," "Shaken and Rectified: The 1855 Ansei Edo Earthquake" and a series of interactive tours of Japanese art at the Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, March 2008.
Other Professional Activity and Service
Editorial board of Early-Modern Japan (2007-present)
Manuscript reviewer for D.C. Heath and Company, Bedford/St. Martin's Press, Harvard University Press, UNiversity of Hawai'i Press, the Journal of Asian Studies, The Historian, and the Journal of Japanese Studies, and several other academic journals.
Referee for RGSO faculty research grant competition, Penn State University, 1998
Co-Organizer of and coordinator of communications for the second international symposium of the International Society for Ryukyuan Studies, March 24, 1994, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University
Referee for Faculty Research Grant competition, Eastern Washington University, 1995
A variety of academic volunteer work (List)
GRANTS, AWARDS, PRIZES, HONORS
Florence Liu Macaulay Distinguished Lecturer, University of Hawai'i, April 2007
Institute for the Arts and Humanities Individual Grant, Penn State University, 2004
Forster Award, Department of History, 2000
RGSO Grant, Penn State University, 1998
Faculty Research Grant, Eastern Washington University, 1995
Faculty Assessment Grant, Eastern Washington University, 1994
Haynes Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Univ. of Southern CA, 1991-92
Asiatic Society of Japan Prize, 1990
Haynes Foundation Fellowship, University of Southern CA, 1990-91
Taraknath Das Prize, History Dept., University of Hawai'i, 1986-7
National Resource Fellowship, University of Hawai'i, 1986-87
Pacific-Asian Fellowship, University of Hawai'i, 1985-86
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