Having trouble viewing this email? Click here to open in your browser.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Month in Mongolian Studies is a monthly listing of selected academic activities, resources and other material related to Mongolia. This list is based on information the ACMS has received and is presented as a service to its members. If you would like to submit information to be included in next month's issue please contact the ACMS at info@mongoliacenter.org This publication is supported in part by memberships. Please consider becoming a member of the ACMS, or renewing your membership by visiting our website at mongoliacenter.org/join.
Thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
ACMS Announcements, News and Media References
|
|
Fellowship Applications Closed
The ACMS closed applications for Field Research Fellowship, Library Fellowship and Intensive Summer Mongolian Language Program on March 1, 2023. An independent board is now reviewing the applications. Fellowship selections will be announced in the first week of April. Applicants shall receive email notifications on the decision.
For inquiries about the Field Research Fellowship and the Library Fellowship please contact: baigalmaa@mongoliacenter.org
For inquiries about the Intensive Summer Language Program Fellowship please contact: tsermaa@mongoliacenter.org
To look up general information for our fellowships please visit: https://www.mongoliacenter.org/fellowships
|
| | Mongolia Field School 2023 Priority Deadline Extended to March 31
The Mongolia Field School offers an educational travel experience blending academic insights and discussions with travel experiences that allow participants to interact with local people and locations off the usual tourist track. For 2023 we are offering 3 different courses, which all begin in Ulaanbaatar with an orientation on Mongolian culture, history, language and contemporary issues. Participants will meet with their instructors and classmates from Mongolia and around the world and begin their learning journey. Class groups will then travel to selected sites across Mongolia where they will pursue field research, gaining an understanding of the topics studied in the context of the landscapes and people in the regions visited. All participants will have the opportunity to see important sites in Mongolia and participate in tourist activities, while also gaining the unique insights offered by their course leaders and the local people and officials encountered during the field studies. Apply by the Priority Deadline to be considered for fellowship awards based on need. The course titles are: - Discovering The Sonic World of The Mongolian Countryside: June 2 - June 15
- Climate Change and Public Health: What does climate change mean for the people of Mongolia?: June 19 - July 4
- Mongolian Buddhism, Nature, and Conservation: June 19 - July 4
"Climate Change and Public Health: What does climate change mean for the people of Mongolia?" course now has an updated list of instructors. Check the link below to see the additional instructors.
Priority Deadline: March 31, 2023
Final program application deadline: April 30, 2023
TUITION FEE:
International participants - $3500 Mongolian Participants - ₮1.200.000
To learn more about the Mongolia Field School 2023 and to apply, please visit:
https://www.mongoliacenter.org/mfs23
A 2nd info webinar is scheduled on March 15, 2023 at 8pm EST, 5pm PST or March 16, 2023 at 8am ULAT in Mongolia. The webinar will be hosted by ACMS Staff.
Signup using this link, after you submit there will be a Zoom link to the webinar: https://forms.gle/CEEPzbns9JNxFGmc7
|
| Mongolia Field School 2023 Webinar # 1 is available on YouTube
On January 18th the ACMS held an informational webinar for those who are interested in attending Mongolia Field School. The webinar was hosted by Dr. Charles Krusekopf and the instructors of all three courses planned for 2023. Click on the below button to watch the webinar recording on YouTube.
|
| | | Becoming a Member
ACMS membership is another way to support and engage with the ACMS. Individuals and institutions can become members of ACMS, both come with corresponding benefits. In February, 8 new people have signed up to become ACMS members and 7 members renewed their memberships. We also have new institutional member, Macalester College.
ACMS welcomes new members: - Andrew Shimunek
- Daniel Lang
- Mark Wilensky
- Rachel Stivers-Bender
- Logan Blakeslee
- Samantha Lima
- Lee Orfila
- Nick Tobier
and thanks renewing members: - Bolor Lkhaajav
- Benjamin Van Wienen
- Tcybzhid Tcybikova
- Peter Bittner
- Tsermaa Nyamdavaa
- John Duffy
- Evan Holt
If you are in Ulaanbaatar, you can also visit our office to sign up for membership in-person. Our UB office address is Natsagdorj Library, East Entrance, Seoul St – 7, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar 14521
|
|
|
ACMS Sponsored Programs and Events
|
|
| For VSS February 2023 we invited Dr. Bayasgalan S, Assistan Professor from the School of International Relations and Public Administration of the National University of Mongolia. The presentation topic was "On Mongolia's nuclear weapon free status". Dr. Raj Deep provides an interesting perspective on the development of Mongolia's democracy and its electoral system. Click the button below to view. |
| | | In February, ACMS Language Methodology Seminar invited the Head of the Workgroup on National Language Policy, Ms. Narangerel N., who is overseeing the implementation of the National Program for Mongolian Script III. In 2020 the Mongolian Government passed a resolution to implement this program, which aims for all public records and documents be in dual script - both Traditional Mongolian script and Cyrillic Mongolian by the year 2025. The National Program for Mongolian Script III is part of a larger effort to switch back to Mongolian script from Cyrillic Mongolian. Making all public records and documents in dual script will make Mongolian script more visible to everyday Mongolian and increase the use cases of Mongolian script encouraging more people to learn it. Ms. Narangerel spoke to ACMS on how the program proceeds halfway to 2025. |
| | Visit our YouTube channel to see more series of the Virtual Speaker and Virtual Panel Series, as well as our videos on Cultural Heritage Project, interviews with our Field Research Fellows and more.
|
| Upcoming Events
- Language Methodology Seminar: Dr. Gerelmaa G. "Foreign loanwords, translation and use in Mongolian Language" March 23, 2023, at 8pm ULAT (online event)
- Cultural Heritage Project: Expert Lecture: Collection Management, "Preparation for Outgoing Loans" March 23, 2023, at 9am ULAT (online event)
- Speaker Series: Bill Bikales "Myth of Mongolian Shock Therapy" March 25, 2023, at 2pm (in-person event) Venue: The American Corner, UB Public Library, Seoul St. 7, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar 14521
We are working to bring back in-person speaker events, we will be putting these events up as more in-person speaker become available. If you would like to speak in-person for an ACMS Speaker event, please email buyandelger@mongoliacenter.org
|
|
|
Vacancies, Scholarship, and Fellowships
|
|
The Institute for Mongolian Studies Announces 3 Scholarships
The Institute for Mongolian Studies of the National University of Mongolia announced the Damdinsuren, Luvsanvandan, and Rinchen Scholarships for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, with the aim of supporting up and coming scholars engaged in Mongolian studies and are conducting field work in Mongolia.- The Damdinsuren Scholarship is granted to scholars whose research focuses on Mongolian literature and history.
- The Luvsanvandan Scholarship is granted to scholars whose research focuses on Mongolian language, script and Altaic studies.
- The Rinchen Scholarship is granted to scholars whos research focuses on Mongolian culture, and tradition, anthropology and ethnology.
Requirements: - Under the age of 40
- Pursuing doctoral or postdoctoral research in Mongolian studies
- Be able to start their research in 2023-2024 academic year
- Conduct research in Mongolia for the period of 3 months (the recipient may choose their research period in Mongolia)
Documentation: - Curriculum Vitae
- List of publications including research projects undertaken
- Letter of Intent, clearly stating the applicant's objectives and scope of studies, name and department of the supervisor at the National University of Mongolia and specifying which scholarship the applicant is applying for
- HIV test for Mongolian visa (required if accepted)
Once selected, the following terms and conditions shall apply: - Work under the supervision of a professor at the National University of Mongolia, who has agreed to supervise the proposed research proposal
- IMS will provide accommodation the International Student Dormitory of the NUM. recipient may choose not to occupy the dormitory. If so the recipient shall arrange their own accommodation
- Recipient shall receive a monthly scholarship award of ₮800000
Recipients also must: - Give a lecture or a seminar on their research area at IMS/NUM
- Publish a research paper in an academic journal
- Submit a written report to the IMS on their research
- Abide by the rules and regulations of NUM during scholarship period
Send your application documents to infomonstudies@gmail.com by July 11, 2023 Scholarship recipients shall be notified by email on July 25, 2023
Visit the IMS website at: http://ims.num.edu.mn/?p=901
|
| | Scholarship: Fulbright Scholar Award
Application deadline: Friday, September 15, 2023
Award start period:
August 2024 - September 2024 or January 2025 - February 2025
Award length:
7 months - 10 months
Disciplines:
Projects are sought in all disciplines
Award Activity:
Fulbright scholars will teach and/or conduct their own research, work collaboratively with new colleagues at the host institution, engage with students, and become involved in the local community. Applicants may propose teaching projects, research projects, or a combination of both in a range of subject areas relevant to Mongolia, the United States, or U.S.-Mongolia relations. Scholars may also be asked to assist the host institution with curriculum and program development and/or supervise graduate student research projects. For teaching/research grants, research should make up no more than 50 percent of grant activities.
Locations:
Location Selection: Applicant may propose an appropriate host
Two-semester grants must begin in August 2024 or September 2024; one-semester grants may begin in August 2024, September 2024, January 2025, or February 2025. Fall semester begins in August or September (until late December); spring semester begins in January or February (until mid-June). Academic calendars vary by institution.
Areas of Interest
Fulbright Mongolia is particularly interested in encouraging research on contemporary issues relevant to Mongolia, the United States, or U.S.-Mongolia relations in the following fields: artistic and cultural, agriculture, anthropology, archaeology, computer science, education, engineering, environmental sciences, geology, information sciences/systems, journalism, medical sciences, public administration, public health, social work, tourism, urban planning.
Special Features
Fulbright East Asia Pacific Regional Travel Program
As conditions allow, Fulbright Scholars in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region may have the opportunity to apply for funds to support short-term (3-14 days) travel to other countries in the EAP region for activities such as lectures, workshops, graduate or faculty seminars, master classes or recitals, curricular advising or panel presentations. EAP Regional Travel Program funding covers transportation only. Regional Travel Program activities/host sites should not be included in the initial Fulbright application. Scholars may start the process of seeking out invitations for short-term activities in other EAP countries once notified that they have been selected for a Fulbright grant, but will only be able to apply for travel program funds, conditions permitting, once they have actively started their Fulbright grant in their host country. Scholars on Flex grants are not eligible for the regional travel grant.
Visit their website for more details on requirements, award benefits and to apply online:
URL link: https://fulbrightscholars.org/award/all-disciplines-694
|
| | Scholarship: Fulbright Student Program (for Mongolians)
The Fulbright (Foreign) Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals, and artists from Mongolia to earn a master’s degree in the United States. The program operates in more than 160 countries worldwide and grants approximately 4,000 scholarships to foreign students each year.
Fulbright Student Program in Mongolia supports study in most fields of study but will give priority to candidates who plan to pursue studies in following fields:
- Data Science
- Artificial Intelligence
- Renewable Energy
- Environmental Protection Technology
- Petroleum Engineering
- Mining Technology
- Education (Preschool, TESOL, Special Needs)
- Agricultural Studies
Due to health system differences between the two countries, the program does not support studies in medicine except Public Health and in law only LLM degree study is supported.
To qualify for the Fulbright Student Program, applicants must meet following requirements:
- Be a Mongolian citizen, currently living in Mongolia;
- Have a minimum of 1.5 years of full-time work experience;
- Hold a first university degree (B.A. or equivalent);
- Be highly proficient in English, with a minimum TOEFL IBT 80-90, TOEFL ITP/PBT 550-575, IELTS 6.5-7.0, or Duolingo 115-125 depending on the field of study (please see below);
- Preference will be given to candidates with limited prior experience in the U.S. Note that Mongolians holding U.S. green card are not eligible to apply.
Candidates who are applying to pursue studies in the following fields are required to have a minimum of TOEFL IBT 90, TOEFL PBT/ITP 575, IELTS 7.00, or Duolingo 125:
- Arts Administration/History
- Biology
- Business/Economics/Finance
- Engineering
- English/TESOL
- Gender and Women’s Studies
- History
- International Development
- International Relations
- IT/Communication
- Journalism
- Law
- Linguistics
- Management
- Psychology
- Public Administration/Public Policy
- Political Science
- Theater/Drama/Creative Writing
- Urban/Regional Planning
- Veterinary Medicine
Candidates pursuing studies in fields other than named above should have a minimum of TOEFL IBT 80, TOEFL PBT/ITP 550, or IELTS 6.5.
In order to apply for the Fulbright Student Program, interested applicants must complete online application form. Complete online application must have following documents attached:
Recommendation Letters
- Three letters of recommendation from individuals who can attest to your academic and professional abilities
- Note that recommendations requested via the automated online system are still due on the same day and time of the application deadline. Applicants should notify their reference providers regarding the deadline.
- Recommendations must be in English or provide English translation by an authorized translation service along with the original letter in Mongolian. Recommendation letters submitted separately from the online application will not be accepted.
- Scanned copies of Diploma of all university degrees
- Diploma scan must include all language versions (i.e., Mongolian Cyrillic, Mongolian Script, English, etc.)
- In case the original is only issued in Mongolia, provide English translation by an authorized translation service along with the scanned copies of diploma/s in Mongolian.
- Original Transcript of all university degrees
- Official transcript must be issued by the school administration on a letterhead with an official stamp.
- Official transcript must be in English or provide English translation by an authorized translation service along with the original transcript in Mongolian.
- Diploma appendixes are not considered as transcript.
- Work experience proof
- A TUTs machine or e-mongolia reference indicating employment period of 1.5 years or more (only in Mongolian)
- A scanned/printed copy of TOEFL or IELTS official score report
- Curriculum Vitae
Things to remember when completing the online application:
Application must be completed in English in electronic format.
Applicants must answer all questions in the application form. Incomplete applications will be deemed technically ineligible. No questions can be left blank. Put N/A if not applicable.
Essays must be your own work reflecting your original thought. Other people’s works/ideas used anywhere in the application must be properly noted. Plagiarism in any part of your application will result in your disqualification from participating in the Fulbright Program.
Please note any word or character limit for essay portions of the application and give your answers within the limit.
The online application deadline is April 24, 2023, 8 a.m. ULAT. The Embassy will announce application results in May 2023 and will notify all applicants via email. Any inquiries about the program will not be answered via phone. Please direct all inquiries to exchange@usembassy.mn.
Visit the website of the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia for more information at (information is also available in Mongolian): https://mn.usembassy.gov/education-culture/scholarships/fulbright-student |
| |
|
Grants and Calls for Paper
|
|
Call for Proposals: Sinification, Globalization or Glocalization?: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond
International Conference: August 9 to 12, 2023
Location: Hong Kong, China
The organizing committee for the international conference on “Sinification, Globalization or Glocalization?: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond” cordially invites the submission of related papers. This conference is sponsored by the Glorisun Charity Foundation, administered by the Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies (https://glorisunglobalnetwork.org) and FROGBEAR (www.frogbear.org) at the University of British Columbia, and hosted by the University of Hong Kong.
We propose, though not exclusively, the following themes for discussion:
- Conflicts and Conciliations: Patterns of intercultural/intercivilisational Interactions as Seen from Buddhism’s Crossborder and Transcultural Transformation
- Indigenization and Globalization of Buddhism as Part of World History;
- Sinification and Globalization of Buddhism and Reconstruction of Sacred Spaces in Asia;
- Case Studies Showing Glocalization as a More Dynamic Approach for the Study of Transcultural Transmission of Buddhism;
- Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and the Formation and Transformation of Pan-Asian Textual Communities;
- Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and Commercial Networks in Asia;
- Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and Geopolitical Reshaping in Asia
The organizing committee welcomes all paper proposals related to this conference theme. All conference-related costs, including local transportation, meals and accommodation during the conference period, will be covered by the conference organizers, who—depending on availability of funding—may also provide a travel subsidy to selected panelists who are in need of funding.
Please email proposals and CVs to frogbear.project@ubc.ca by April 15, 2023.
A conference volume will collect all the papers in English, plus English translations of several papers written in languages other than English; a volume in Chinese will include Chinese versions for all papers not written in Chinese in addition to those papers contributed by our colleagues based in China. Only scholars who are confident in finishing their draft papers by mid-July and publishable papers by mid-November of 2023 are encouraged to apply.
|
| |
Call for Papers: Religion and Society Special Issue Proposal
Editors:Simon Coleman, University of Toronto, Sondra L. Hausner, University of Oxford
Religion and Society has been receiving increasing numbers of excellent suggestions for special issues. We have therefore decided to invite proposals to be sent to us by a given deadline each year, in order to select the most appropriate special section for the journal. The pool of proposals will be considered by our editorial board, and decisions sent back to proposers as swiftly as possible. This arrangement will apply for the first time for our 2025 issue. Our timetable for proposals is as follows:
• May 1, 2024: submission of proposal to Religion and Society editors (no fixed number of papers, but maximum 50,000 words)
• June 1, 2024: decisions sent out, including choice of the proposal to be published
• June-December 2024: external refereeing and redrafting process, with submission of final proofreading by January 2025
The format of the proposal sent to Religion and Society should be as follows:
• Description of the special issue, including summary of its fit with Religion and Society, and assurance that all papers exist in draft form, fully ready to be send to reviewers (max. 500 words)
• Abstracts of all papers (max. 400 words each)
• Bios of special issue editors and all other contributors (max. 100 words each)
• List of potential reviewers for each paper, and assurance that special issue editors will work to obtain external reviews to fit with deadlines
Submission
The Religion and Society style guide is based on The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). Please note that the journal uses US punctuation and spelling, following Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
Please refer to the Style Guide online:
https://journals.berghahnbooks.com/_uploads/air-rs/religion-and-society_style_guide.pdf
Please submit articles, reviews, and other contributions as Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (rtf) files by e-mail to the editors:
Simon Coleman at simon.coleman@utoronto.ca and Sondra Hausner at sondra.hausner@theology.ox.ac.uk
|
|
|
|
Interesting digital resource we discovered in February, 2023:- "Bolor Toli App" - Our favorite go to online Mongolian dictionary is now available as an app. You can now bring Bolor Toli with you, whether you have an Apple, Android or Huawei smart devices.
- "Endangered Archives Programme" - The EAP seeks to preserve cultural heritage by digitizing and documenting archives. In 2009 the EAP digitized over 10000 rare negatives from Mongolia taken between 1910-1940, which are available online.
Member contribution publications:(If you would like to announce your publication, please reach out to us at info@mongoliacenter.org. Make sure you put Member contribution publication in the Subject field of your email.
Selected scholarly articles published in February, 2023:
|
|
|
|
| | FEATURE ARTICLES AND EVENTS ON MONGOLIAN STUDIES |
| Pope Francis says he wants to go to Mongolia in September
/Reuters/ February 6. Pope Francis said on Sunday that he expected to continue travelling despite his knee ailment, joking that "weeds never die" and adding that he hoped to go to Mongolia in September.
The trip would be the first ever by a pope to the Asian country. Last August Francis named Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, an Italian, the first cardinal to be based in Mongolia, where he is the Catholic Church's administrator. The country has fewer than 1,500 Catholics but is strategically significant because it borders with China, where the Vatican is trying to improve the situation of Catholics in the communist country. Read more |
| | Rare wild asses spotted near China-Mongolia border
/Xinhua/ February 20. Patrollers have recently spotted a herd of Mongolian wild asses in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, as heightened protection improves the environment for the rare mammals.The eight asses were seen earlier this month in the Urad natural reserve near the China-Mongolia border, according to the forestry and grassland administration of Urad Back Banner. It was the first time in several years a herd of Mongolian wild asses turned up in the reserve, the administration said. Read more |
| | Mongolia, UK Celebrate 60th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations
/The Diplomat/ February 24. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Mongolia and the United Kingdom’s establishment of diplomatic relations. In commemoration of this special occasion, the two governments are celebrating decades of shared principles, strengthening bilateral relations, and strong people-to-people ties.
On January 23, 1963, the United Kingdom became the first Western nation to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia. During a ceremony commemorating the Mongolia-U.K. diplomatic anniversary, a former Mongolian ambassador to the U.K., Altangerel Bulgaa, highlighted London’s key role in opening diplomatic doors for Mongolia. Read more |
| | China’s top coal supplier Mongolia switches to auctions to fetch top dollar from its exports
/South China Morning Post/ February 13. Mongolia, the biggest supplier of coal to China’s steel industry, is changing the way it sells its product in a bid to improve transparency and reap better returns from its top export earner. Stung by a scandal last year that saw hundreds of thousands of tons pilfered from state stockpiles on the border, the government is moving to an auction system that will replace the long-term contracts favoured by Chinese buyers and impose additional transport costs on customers. Read more |
|
| Mobile culture: A Yale archaeologist sifts through Mongolia’s ancient past
/YaleNews/ February 21. In November, Yale archaeologist William Honeychurch received the Order of the Polar Star from Mongolia — the highest civilian honor the country’s government bestows on foreign citizens. In accepting the award, Honeychurch joined esteemed company: Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton are among the other Americans to accept the honor. Honeychurch first visited Mongolia as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1991, when the country, a former Soviet satellite state, was transitioning to democracy. He began forging relationships with Mongolian archaeologists, teaching them English as they taught him about their work. He returned after earning his doctorate, and has worked in the country ever since, focusing his research on ancient nomadic political organization in East and Central Asia. Read more |
| | Business booms on China-Mongolia border
/China Daily/ February 22. With visible excitement, Ulantuya, who comes from Mongolia, went on a shopping spree in a bustling mall in Erenhot, a major city on the China-Mongolia border. "There is such a variety of products here. I will be taking many things home," Ulantuya said amid a swarm of Mongolian merchants and customers. Border cities like Erenhot have seen a boom in business and greater interpersonal exchange since cross-border travel resumed between China and its neighbors on Jan 8, as a result of optimized COVID-19 controls. Zhang Yuan, who has had a leather goods shop in the mall for 12 years, was delighted to have Mongolian merchants return. "As I reconnected with old friends, warm greetings were exchanged and our handshakes lingered just a tad longer than usual," Zhang said. Read more |
| | Mongolia seeks foreign help to produce minerals used for EVs
/Asia Nikkei/ February 9. Resource-rich Mongolia is positioning itself as an alternative to China in supplying minerals used in the renewable energy sector but needs help from foreign investors to develop the necessary mining infrastructure, its deputy prime minster says. Minerals such as copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt are crucial for manufacturing battery-powered electric vehicles, as are rare-earth metals that largely come from China. The National Geological Office of Mongolia had registered reserves of 61.4 million tons of copper and 3.1 million tons of rare-earth minerals as of July 2022. Last year, Southern Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi mine -- one of the world's largest known copper reserves -- received approval to begin underground operations. Read in more |
| | Mongolian Banks To Accept Russian MIR Debit Cards
/Russia Briefing/ February 19. The list of countries who will permit access to Russia’s MIR banking system is growing with Mongolia set to join shortly. Tuksgrlin Munkh-Od, the head of the Department for the Coordination of Tourism Policy at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia, set out the plans last Thursday (February 16), stating that the country’s authorities have almost completed preparatory work with local banks. In 2018, Belarus and Kazakhstan became the first countries which began to accept MIR cards. At present, the Russian payment system operates in about 10 countries, and more than 15 countries have expressed their readiness to introduce it. Read more |
|
|
|
|
"The Ideological Foundations of Qing Taxation" by Taisu Zhang
Price: $120 (Hardcover)
How states develop the capacity to tax is a question of fundamental importance to political science, legal theory, economics, sociology, and history. Increasingly, scholars believe that China's relative economic decline in the 18th and 19th centuries was related to its weak fiscal institutions and limited revenue. This book argues that this fiscal weakness was fundamentally ideological in nature. Belief systems created through a confluence of traditional political ethics and the trauma of dynastic change imposed unusually deep and powerful constraints on fiscal policymaking and institutions throughout the final 250 years of China's imperial history. Through the Qing example, this book combs through several interaction dynamics between state institutions and ideologies. The latter shapes the former, but the former can also significantly reinforce the political durability of the latter. In addition to its historical analysis of ideological politics, this book makes a major contribution to the longstanding debate on Sino-European divergence.
- Provides the first somewhat comprehensive English-language survey of late imperial Chinese fiscal institutions, policy, and thought
- Offers new theoretical insights into the nature of political ideologies, the intellectual tradeoffs they must make to gain influence, and how that shapes their political life-cycles
- Constructs an ideological, rather than economically rationalist, explanation for Qing Dynasty fiscal weakness
Taisu Zhang is Professor of Law and History at Yale University.
|
| | "The King’s Road: Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road" by Xin Wen
Price: $49.95/£42.00 (Hardcover)
The King’s Road offers a new interpretation of the history of the Silk Road, emphasizing its importance as a diplomatic route, rather than a commercial one. Tracing the arduous journeys of diplomatic envoys, Xin Wen presents a rich social history of long-distance travel that played out in deserts, post stations, palaces, and polo fields. The book tells the story of the everyday lives of diplomatic travelers on the Silk Road—what they ate and drank, the gifts they carried, and the animals that accompanied them—and how they navigated a complex web of geographic, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. It also describes the risks and dangers envoys faced along the way—from financial catastrophe to robbery and murder.
Using documents unearthed from the famous Dunhuang “library cave” in Western China, The King’s Road paints a detailed picture of the intricate network of trans-Eurasian transportation and communication routes that was established between 850 and 1000 CE. By exploring the motivations of the kings who dispatched envoys along the Silk Road and describing the transformative social and economic effects of their journeys, the book reveals the inner workings of an interstate network distinct from the Sino-centric “tributary” system.
In shifting the narrative of the Silk Road from the transport of commodities to the exchange of diplomatic gifts and personnel, The King’s Road puts the history of Eastern Eurasia in a new light.
Xin Wen is assistant professor of East Asian studies and history at Princeton University.
|
| | "The Great Mongol Shahnama" by Robert Hildebrand
Price: $195.00 (Hardcover)
A detailed study of the Great Mongol Shahnama, considered to be the greatest of all Persian illustrated manuscripts
The Great Mongol Shahnama is widely considered to be the definitive version of Firdausi’s epic poem, and the greatest of all Persian illustrated manuscripts. The paintings from this manuscript are held in private collections and institutions around the world, and have only been seen together in a single volume once since they were originally dispersed. This monograph reunites the paintings and reproduces them as 67 full-page, high quality color plates, alongside an analysis by leading scholar of Islamic art, Robert Hillenbrand. With newly commissioned photographs and insights into technical aspects of the paintings, The Great Mongol Shahnama is a comprehensive resource for those interested in Persian art and manuscripts.
Distributed for Hali Publications Ltd. and the Freer|Sackler, Smithsonian. Co-published by Hali Publications Ltd. and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and supported by Qatar Museums.
Robert Hillenbrand is an honorary professorial fellow in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
|
| |  |
Price: $27.54 (Paperback)
This book describes the author's intellectual and physical journey to her long-term work in the Altai Mountains of Russia and Mongolia. It recounts the challenges of getting to Siberia and the Russian Altai during the Soviet period and the physical and intellectual challenges of working in the Mongolian Altai—a region that was, at that time, virtually unknown even to researchers.
The focus of the author's work was the rock art and monumental archaeology of northwestern Mongolia. From her decades of survey, documentation, and mapping emerged an ancient world of deep culture and considerable beauty. The author's years in the Altai also revealed the lives of the local herders, inheritors of traditions going back to the Bronze Age.
The book is liberally illustrated with the photographs of Gary Tepfer, the author's husband and partner in this multi-year exploration.
Esther Jacobson-Tepfer received her doctoral degree in Chinese art history from the University of Chicago (1970). In her early publications she began to explore the interconnections between Chinese artistic traditions of the Zhou-Han period and those of the Early Nomads inhabiting the steppe region to the north of China’s borders. Extended study periods in the former Soviet Union allowed Jacobson-Tepfer to investigate more fully those nomadic traditions and to refocus her research interests in North Asia, the Early Nomads, and their Bronze Age predecessors. In recent years her research has been directed particularly to rock art of North Asia in the pre-Bronze, Bronze, and early Iron Ages.
|
| | |
|
|
