Jacob Eyferth Associate Professor Departments of History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago During the collective era (1956–80), China’s farmers earned an average annual cash income from collective sources of ¥15, equivalent to US $9 in terms of purchasing power. Total income was higher, since members of collectives received much of their […]
To the Sea, To the Mountain: Cantonese Woodwork in the Indian Ocean during the Nineteenth Century @ This talk examines the mobility of Cantonese woodwork, a vibrant regional craft in the Pearl River Delta, and its impact on artisanal practices through a case study of woodworkers’ movement to the Indian Ocean during the nineteenth century. […]
Hirooka Asako, Uruno Coal Mine’s Transformation, and Finding Businesswomen in Meiji Japan. Amidst changes redefining and subjugating womanhood in the Meiji period (1868-1912), industrialist Hirooka Asako (1849-1919) rescued her marital family’s failing coal mine in Uruno. This story highlights her determination, knowledge but also her collaboration with male relatives and associates, and direct management, illuminating […]
Cooking Recipes and the Ways of Transmitting Knowledge @ How can the written recipes convey the embodied practice of cooking? While cooking traditionally relies on direct transformation and oral explication, what circumstances lead to the translation of this mute skill into written form? This talk examines two 17-century cooking recipes from Chosŏn Korea (1392–1897), exploring […]
University of California, Riverside Before the Fire Dogs Steal the Sun: An Elegy @ In this talk, Professor Crystal Mun-hye Baik offers a glimpse into her second book project, Before the Fire Dogs Steal the Sun: An Elegy. An intimate cultural history of war, illness, and estrangement framed through her family history, Before the Fire […]
Department of Government and Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell University Ethnic Orders: Social Categories and the Politics of Identity in the Malay World @ Ethnicity is central to politics throughout the Malay world, but the meaning and significance of ethnicity—and of social categories like “Malay”—is contested, dynamic, and multifaceted. This talk is an overview […]
