Reunion

A little underwhelming, alas, with not as many familiar and interesting people as I expected, especially among the house '04s. Plus, the planned activities have been lame (stargazing anyone?) and it's the weekend, so the profs aren't around. Still, I ran into my thesis advisor on Friday and updated him on my plans. Will be seeing another professor tomorrow for breakfast, and then heading back to Boston for the tail-end of this trip. I guess there's still lunch at Chez Panisse Cafe to look forward too.
Posted by kungfuzi at 3:15 am | 0 comments

  Graduate school

I have found a way of synthesising my undergraduate thesis, current teaching experiences, and "life story" into my statement of research interests (to be written at some point of time in the future). All this while ensuring that these interests are realistically within grasp given my linguistic proficiency (which can be improved upon).

Fundamentally, I intend to specialise in 19th and 20th century international history from an Anglo-American perspective. I am particularly interested in the circulation of Anglo-American ideas and their reception in the non-Western world, especially China and Southeast Asia. What mechanisms and institutions existed to help transmit these ideas globally, and how did local conditions -- cultural, political, and economic -- influence how these ideas were received and subsequently modified to suit domestic demands? What were the consequences of these "flows" for both Anglo-American and non-Western peoples?

(There, I'm sounding so grad student already.)

Prester John, of course, was also a global history in some sense of the term, as it examined the influence of non-European ideas on politics and culture in medieval Europe, and revealed that the boundaries which defined Western Europe were perhaps more permeable than we think. My interest in transmission processes also stems in part from the thesis: how did the legend pass from East to West?

Teaching contemporary Southeast Asian history and politics, in particular the histories of nationalism and nation-building, has sparked my interest in the influence of Anglo-American ideas on global politics. What's fascinating is how these ideas were appropriated and modified to suit local contexts: how Sukarno, for instance, adapted nationalist thought to Indonesian demands, or how early 20th century Vietnamese reformers grappled over the fate of the monarchy and the pressures of French colonial rule.
Posted by kungfuzi at 11:40 am | 0 comments

  I Am Charlotte Simmons...and Thomas Mann

A compelling read -- I couldn't put it down and finished it in four days -- but upon reflection, not a great book. Funny, but too clever by half. Perfect teen movie material. The characters, with the exception of Charlotte and perhaps Adam, are flat and hugely unsympathetic, the plot's predictable and heavy-handed, and Wolfe tries a little too hard to show us that he "gets" how college students (and administrators) think, speak, and behave.

I did, however, completely fall for Charlotte. Which, for people who know me, should come as no surprise.

Thomas Mann, on the other hand, is just fabulous. Out of the collection, I've thus far only managed Death in Venice and Mario and the Magician, but am looking forward to more once I get back to San Francisco. Maybe I should re-read The Magic Mountain.
Posted by kungfuzi at 11:17 am | 0 comments

  Berkeley, CA

The weather's lovely, the food's great, and the books are cheap:

Erasmus, In Praise of Folly -US$6
David Landes, Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World - US$3

The next time I'm back in this country, it'll be for graduate school.
Posted by kungfuzi at 12:01 am | 0 comments