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Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Margaret Jacob, Telling the Truth about History
Nancy Armstrong, Fiction in the Age of Photography
Andrew E. Barshay, State and Intellectual in Imperial Japan
Walter Benjamin, Illuminations
Dana Buntrock, Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (reread)
Paul Cohen, Discovering History in China
Confucius, Analects
Fa-ti Fan, British Naturalists in Qing China
Judith Farquhar, Appetites
Han Fei Tzu
Ian Christopher Fletcher et al., eds., Women's Suffrage in the British Empire
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
James Hevia, Cherishing Men from Afar
Laura Hostetler, Qing Colonial Enterprise
Hsun Tzu
Rebecca Karl, Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World
Thomas Keirstead, The Geography of Power in Medieval Japan
Kenko, Essays in Idleness
Lao Zi
Der Ling, Two Years in the Forbidden City
Lydia Liu, Translingual Practice
Lorenz Luth, The Sino-Soviet Split
André Malraux, Man's Fate
Meng Zi
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (reread)
Anchee Min, Pearl of China
Tessa Morris-Suzuki, A History of Japanese Economic Thought
Herman Ooms, Tokugawa Ideology
Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract
Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence
Procopius, The Secret History
The Rig Veda
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Years of Rice and Salt
Ruth Rogaski, Hygenic Modernity
Edward Said, The Culture of Imperialism
Victor Segalen, Rene Liys
Sima Qian
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
Thomas C. Smith, The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China
Frederick Teggart, Rome and China
E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class
Joanna Waley-Cohen, The Sextants of Beijing
Wang Yang-ming
J.Y. Wong, Deadly Dreams
Karl Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism
Xiao Jing
Zhuang Zi
Zhu Xi
Further viewing
Bernardo Bertolucci, The Last Emperor
WisCon schedule
May. 12th, 2013 23:49I'll be at Wiscon in less than two weeks. Hooray Wiscon!
Here's my schedule:
Vid Party Discussion Sat, 1:00–2:15pm Room 634
Moderator: Alexis Lothian. Panelists: Evelyn Browne, Andrea Horbinski, Micole Sudberg, Gretchen T.
We will discuss some of the vids shown at the vid party, and fan vids in general.
Gay & Lesbian Characters in Anime & Manga Sat, 10:30–11:45pm Conference 4
Moderator: Andrea Horbinski. Panelists: Julie Andrews, Emily Horner
Is the Boys' Love genre an appropriation of gay male sexuality, or an expression of female sexuality? Are there realistic series about gay men outside of BL that were written by/for men? What about realistic lesbian characters? Let's talk about the representation of LGB characters in anime & manga—what we've seen, and what we'd like to see.
Anime & Manga 101 Sun, 1:00–2:15pm Conference 5
Moderator: Andrea Horbinski. Panelists: David Emerson, Jackie Lee, Megan, Oyceter
Do you feel like you might like anime & manga, but feel overwhelmed by the hundreds of titles and some of the terminology? Come to this panel prepared with your storytelling likes/dislikes and a few questions, and allow our panelists to give you advice and recommendations.
Here's my schedule:
Vid Party Discussion Sat, 1:00–2:15pm Room 634
Moderator: Alexis Lothian. Panelists: Evelyn Browne, Andrea Horbinski, Micole Sudberg, Gretchen T.
We will discuss some of the vids shown at the vid party, and fan vids in general.
Gay & Lesbian Characters in Anime & Manga Sat, 10:30–11:45pm Conference 4
Moderator: Andrea Horbinski. Panelists: Julie Andrews, Emily Horner
Is the Boys' Love genre an appropriation of gay male sexuality, or an expression of female sexuality? Are there realistic series about gay men outside of BL that were written by/for men? What about realistic lesbian characters? Let's talk about the representation of LGB characters in anime & manga—what we've seen, and what we'd like to see.
Anime & Manga 101 Sun, 1:00–2:15pm Conference 5
Moderator: Andrea Horbinski. Panelists: David Emerson, Jackie Lee, Megan, Oyceter
Do you feel like you might like anime & manga, but feel overwhelmed by the hundreds of titles and some of the terminology? Come to this panel prepared with your storytelling likes/dislikes and a few questions, and allow our panelists to give you advice and recommendations.
Bibliographic Data: Halberstam, Judith. The Queer Art of Failure. Chapel Hill, NC: Duke University Press, 2011.
Main Argument: "This is a book about alternative ways of knowing and being that are not unduly optimistic, but nor are they mired in nihilistic critical dead ends. It is a book about failing well, failing often, and learning, in the words of Samuel Beckett, how to fail better. … We will lose our way, our cars, our agenda, and possibly our minds, but in losing we will find another way of making meaning in which, to return to the battered VW van of Little Miss Sunshine, no one gets left behind." (24-25)
Historiographical Engagement: Linebaugh, Peter and Marcus Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic; James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance; Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed; The Art of Not Being Governed.
( They say our tree may never grow back, but one day, something will. )
Critical assessment: This is the best academic book I've read all year, and also one of the most joyful in my experience, hands down, to say nothing of its hilarity. (It's hilarious.) And it also makes a number of really important points--against Edelman, against Zizek--as well as arguing for an alternative ethos and alternative ways of being in the world that are ever more vital in the post-postmodern age of corporations and global capital. Failure may be our only way to successful resistance.
Further reading: Samuel R. Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue; Christopher Kelty and Hannah Landecker, "A Theory of Animation: Cells, L-systems, and Film."
Meta notes: Write disloyal histories. Resist mastery. Be undisciplined.
Main Argument: "This is a book about alternative ways of knowing and being that are not unduly optimistic, but nor are they mired in nihilistic critical dead ends. It is a book about failing well, failing often, and learning, in the words of Samuel Beckett, how to fail better. … We will lose our way, our cars, our agenda, and possibly our minds, but in losing we will find another way of making meaning in which, to return to the battered VW van of Little Miss Sunshine, no one gets left behind." (24-25)
Historiographical Engagement: Linebaugh, Peter and Marcus Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic; James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance; Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed; The Art of Not Being Governed.
( They say our tree may never grow back, but one day, something will. )
Critical assessment: This is the best academic book I've read all year, and also one of the most joyful in my experience, hands down, to say nothing of its hilarity. (It's hilarious.) And it also makes a number of really important points--against Edelman, against Zizek--as well as arguing for an alternative ethos and alternative ways of being in the world that are ever more vital in the post-postmodern age of corporations and global capital. Failure may be our only way to successful resistance.
Further reading: Samuel R. Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue; Christopher Kelty and Hannah Landecker, "A Theory of Animation: Cells, L-systems, and Film."
Meta notes: Write disloyal histories. Resist mastery. Be undisciplined.
BCNM DE student presentations
Apr. 12th, 2013 20:24I'll be speaking for about half an hour (15 minutes talk, 15 minutes Q&A) about my work on the data side of the Fan Fiction and Internet Memory project under Gail De Kosnik next Wednesday at 3:00pm. If you're Berkeley-side, shoot me an email and I will send you the info.
Ada Initiative advisory board
Apr. 11th, 2013 19:34I'm unspeakably thrilled and honored to be joining the advisory board of The Ada Initiative, a non-profit organization which advocates for and supports women in open technology and culture. The Ada Initiative's people and advisers are a phenomenal bunch of passionate people, and it's a privilege to be able to lend my expertise.
I had an incredibly generative time at AdaCamp DC last summer, and I'm very much looking forward to attending AdaCamp SF, which will be held in San Francisco this June. Applications are open until April 30--I hope to see you there!
I had an incredibly generative time at AdaCamp DC last summer, and I'm very much looking forward to attending AdaCamp SF, which will be held in San Francisco this June. Applications are open until April 30--I hope to see you there!
The TWC Symposium blog is now Fanhackers!
My first post at our new venue is Transnational Fan Studies.
My first post at our new venue is Transnational Fan Studies.
April OTW Membership Drive
Apr. 3rd, 2013 22:10
Fandom is love. It's also, in the form of the OTW, a tremendous amount of work, and a rather impressive set of costs associated with doing that work. The OTW is run by fans, for fans, and we need the support of our fellow fans to keep doing what we've done.
And we've done a lot: Transformative Works and Cultures, Fanlore, Open Doors, and of course the Archive of Our Own, to say nothing of the OTW's legal advocacy, which has secured fair use exemptions for vidding under the DMCA before the U.S. Copyright Office for two cycles running, are all supported exclusively by donations from our supporters. A donation of US$10 or more will allow you to become an OTW member for the next calendar year, giving you voting (and bragging) rights and giving us the financial support we need to keep doing what we've been doing, and to become better at it.
Since joining the Board I've had even more cause to be impressed by the dedication and commitment of OTW staff and volunteers, my fellow Board members not least among them. But we wouldn't be anywhere without our supporters who donate, so thank you.
Through the OTW, I spoke to Oakland Tribune writer Angela Hill about fanfiction two weeks ago, and her article, quoting me and a few other OTW and Bay Area people, went live on January 16: "Fan fiction: A world where Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes could meet."
(I should note that my stories about Irene Adler are more about allowing her to continue being awesome than making her awesome, because as we all know, she's already awesome.)
* I was interviewed by the Burlington County Times during the midnight release party for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2000. Good times.
(I should note that my stories about Irene Adler are more about allowing her to continue being awesome than making her awesome, because as we all know, she's already awesome.)
* I was interviewed by the Burlington County Times during the midnight release party for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2000. Good times.
I'll be speaking at the spring bakai at IEAS at Berkeley on Wednesday, January 30 at 4pm. My talk is called "Record of Dying Days: Ôoku as Alternate History," and is the next step of the talk I've been giving in various fora since last fall. The event isn't open to the public, but if you're a Berkeley grad student who wants to attend, drop me a line and I'll forward your RSVP. Brendan Morley and Michael Craig of EALC will also be giving talks.
HASTAC 2013
Dec. 28th, 2012 00:24I was just informed today that Gail de Kosnik and I will be heading to Toronto at the end of April to present on our data-side work on the Fan Fiction and Internet Memory project at HASTAC 2013. Canada, here I come! Believe it or not, I've never been to any other North American country, and I'm quite excited for the conference and the city. I hope to see you there!
Achievement unlocked: DE!
Nov. 30th, 2012 23:55Also, I have just been informed that I have been accepted into the Designated Emphasis in New Media.
Bloch, Marc. The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It. Trans. Peter Putnam. New York: Vintage, 1953.
Marc Bloch was a French historian who served as a staff officer in World War I and fought briefly against the Nazis before the coup that brought the VIchy regime to power obviated the desire to resist the Nazis militarily. Prevented from resuming his professional position by his Jewish ancestry, he became a leader of the Resistance in Lyons. In 1944 he was captured, tortured, and executed by the Nazis in a field along with twenty-six other people.
The Historian's Craft, begun in 1941 and largely written in 1942, left unfinished at the time of the author's death, is a marvelously sensible and humane book despite the circumstances of its creation. My advisor Andrew Barshay actually recommended this book to me this spring, and reading it now, it's hard not to see the congruences between the humane sympathy and critical historical analysis that Bloch advocates, and that Barshay practices in his own work. We've had conversations around these topics, and I remain convinced that some of the underdiscussed and underrated traits Bloch advocates are absolutely crucial to writing effective and affecting history. For example:
This is a book that couldn't have been written without the advent of the theory of general relativity and also the discovery of quantum mechanics, and Bloch continuously draws analogies and contrasts between history and other forms of science. I am not as convinced of the existence of time in the first place and its status as an independent variable in the second place as he is, and unfortunately the book breaks off just as he begins discussing the nature of historical causes and causality, which I would have liked to read much more of. Still, as a final testament and memorial to a great historian and a good man, what is here is more than enough.
Marc Bloch was a French historian who served as a staff officer in World War I and fought briefly against the Nazis before the coup that brought the VIchy regime to power obviated the desire to resist the Nazis militarily. Prevented from resuming his professional position by his Jewish ancestry, he became a leader of the Resistance in Lyons. In 1944 he was captured, tortured, and executed by the Nazis in a field along with twenty-six other people.
The Historian's Craft, begun in 1941 and largely written in 1942, left unfinished at the time of the author's death, is a marvelously sensible and humane book despite the circumstances of its creation. My advisor Andrew Barshay actually recommended this book to me this spring, and reading it now, it's hard not to see the congruences between the humane sympathy and critical historical analysis that Bloch advocates, and that Barshay practices in his own work. We've had conversations around these topics, and I remain convinced that some of the underdiscussed and underrated traits Bloch advocates are absolutely crucial to writing effective and affecting history. For example:
This faculty of understanding the living is, in very truth, the master quality of the historian. Despite their occasional frigidity of style, the greatest of our number have all possessed it. […] For here, in the present, is immediately perceptible that vibrance of human life which only a great effort of the imagination can restore to the old texts. […] In the last analysis, whether consciously or no, it is always by borrowing from our daily experiences and by shading them, where necessary, with new tints that we derive the elements which help us to restore the past. (43-44)
This is a book that couldn't have been written without the advent of the theory of general relativity and also the discovery of quantum mechanics, and Bloch continuously draws analogies and contrasts between history and other forms of science. I am not as convinced of the existence of time in the first place and its status as an independent variable in the second place as he is, and unfortunately the book breaks off just as he begins discussing the nature of historical causes and causality, which I would have liked to read much more of. Still, as a final testament and memorial to a great historian and a good man, what is here is more than enough.
October TWC Symposium post
Oct. 21st, 2012 21:16Fandom Gets Physical, or, I am still angry about Readercon. (I couldn't even find a way to talk about the problem with DragonCon. Briefly: DragonCon is a for-profit enterprise, so every membership purchased goes to support an alleged serial child molester perverting the course of justice.)
When I was younger, I was told that I was angry a lot. The older I get, the more often my response is, "Yeah, and why aren't you?"
When I was younger, I was told that I was angry a lot. The older I get, the more often my response is, "Yeah, and why aren't you?"
Ada Lovelace Day
Oct. 16th, 2012 16:53Having just sustained a conversation with a highly skeptical (and, I suspect, rather sexist) colleague about her and her place in history, let me take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Ada Lovelace Day.
Ada Lovelace Day honors Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer. This post by the Ada Initiative has more details on Lovelace's achievement, as well as the depressing (and depressingly predictable) attempts by later people to deny her importance and her authorship of her own computer program. As Ada Initiative co-founder Valerie Aurora concludes,
As Aurora notes, these tactics and beliefs are right out of Joanna Russ' How to Suppress Women's Writing. The Ada Initiative seeks to support and increase the numbers and representation of women in open technology and culture, and needs donors to continue its work. At the same time, here's a pro tip to aspiring scholars: the way to accurately represent history is not to assume that women's history hasn't been suppressed, or that women have no place in history, whether you're aware of their contributions or not.
Ada Lovelace Day honors Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer. This post by the Ada Initiative has more details on Lovelace's achievement, as well as the depressing (and depressingly predictable) attempts by later people to deny her importance and her authorship of her own computer program. As Ada Initiative co-founder Valerie Aurora concludes,
In the end, most arguments that Lovelace did not write the first program only make sense in the context of a common assumption: in any partnership between a man and woman, the man did the important work and the woman assisted and polished. […] In 2012, we should not be denigrating women’s accomplishments in science based on specious arguments about personality, occasional errors, and collaborations with men. That’s one of the purposes of Ada Lovelace Day: to bring recognition to women who have had credit for their accomplishments stolen from them.
As Aurora notes, these tactics and beliefs are right out of Joanna Russ' How to Suppress Women's Writing. The Ada Initiative seeks to support and increase the numbers and representation of women in open technology and culture, and needs donors to continue its work. At the same time, here's a pro tip to aspiring scholars: the way to accurately represent history is not to assume that women's history hasn't been suppressed, or that women have no place in history, whether you're aware of their contributions or not.
Sirens 2012
Oct. 7th, 2012 12:14I'm thrilled to be returning to the Sirens Conference again this year, now being held at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington. I'll be appearing on several panels:
Beyond Werewolves: Telling and Retelling Shapeshifter Stories
Janni Lee Simner, Cora Anderson, Mette Ivie Harrison, Andrea Horbinski, Cindy Pon
From pookas and kitsune to selkies and frog princes, shapeshifters have long played a role in the stories we tell. Although wolves may be contemporary fantasy’s most beloved werecreatures, other animal shifters appear everywhere from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea books to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels. This panel will take a wider look at the range and nature of shapeshifters of all species in folklore and fantasy novels, at the varied stories different creatures lead us to tell and retell, and at where our fascination with taking on forms not our own comes from in the first place.
Fans and Fandom as (Re)Tellers of Tales
Andrea Horbinski, Marie Brennan, Rachel Manija Brown, Hallie Tibbetts, Sarah Rees Brennan
It’s a common jump from loving a book, a story, a TV show, or a movie, to wanting to play around with its elements oneself. Fandom offers many girls and women a space in which to do just that. This panel looks at fandom and fans as retellers of tales, asking questions such as: what kinds of stories do fans choose to retell? What are some of the most common, or most interesting, kinds of fannish retellings? What is the line between “fannish” and “professional” retellings of stories such as fairy tales? What makes fandom (and retelling) original and creative?
Retelling History
Marie Brennan, Andrea Horbinski, Mette Ivie Harrison, Juliet Grames
Whether it simply uses the culture of the period or features real people and events in starring roles, whether it hews closely to reality or flings in vampires and zombies, historical fiction takes the past and reshapes it for a modern audience. What methods do writers use to retell history in fiction? And what obligation does the writer have to their source?
This will be my third time attending Sirens, and though the con is slightly pricey compared to many other small conferences, I've been consistently impressed at the quality and caliber of the discussions among the attendees, not only on programming but at meals, in the hallways, and at the fancy dress ball. There are still a few on-site registrations available, and if you're in the area, I really do urge you to consider joining us, and if not, please do think about next year! It's a wonderful event for women in fantasy literature, and we'd love to have you.
Beyond Werewolves: Telling and Retelling Shapeshifter Stories
Janni Lee Simner, Cora Anderson, Mette Ivie Harrison, Andrea Horbinski, Cindy Pon
From pookas and kitsune to selkies and frog princes, shapeshifters have long played a role in the stories we tell. Although wolves may be contemporary fantasy’s most beloved werecreatures, other animal shifters appear everywhere from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea books to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels. This panel will take a wider look at the range and nature of shapeshifters of all species in folklore and fantasy novels, at the varied stories different creatures lead us to tell and retell, and at where our fascination with taking on forms not our own comes from in the first place.
Fans and Fandom as (Re)Tellers of Tales
Andrea Horbinski, Marie Brennan, Rachel Manija Brown, Hallie Tibbetts, Sarah Rees Brennan
It’s a common jump from loving a book, a story, a TV show, or a movie, to wanting to play around with its elements oneself. Fandom offers many girls and women a space in which to do just that. This panel looks at fandom and fans as retellers of tales, asking questions such as: what kinds of stories do fans choose to retell? What are some of the most common, or most interesting, kinds of fannish retellings? What is the line between “fannish” and “professional” retellings of stories such as fairy tales? What makes fandom (and retelling) original and creative?
Retelling History
Marie Brennan, Andrea Horbinski, Mette Ivie Harrison, Juliet Grames
Whether it simply uses the culture of the period or features real people and events in starring roles, whether it hews closely to reality or flings in vampires and zombies, historical fiction takes the past and reshapes it for a modern audience. What methods do writers use to retell history in fiction? And what obligation does the writer have to their source?
This will be my third time attending Sirens, and though the con is slightly pricey compared to many other small conferences, I've been consistently impressed at the quality and caliber of the discussions among the attendees, not only on programming but at meals, in the hallways, and at the fancy dress ball. There are still a few on-site registrations available, and if you're in the area, I really do urge you to consider joining us, and if not, please do think about next year! It's a wonderful event for women in fantasy literature, and we'd love to have you.
OTW Board Candidate Questions
Oct. 5th, 2012 19:48As well as the candidate chats (the final one, with Eylul and I, is in approximately twelve hours), I've answered questions in several other places:
- Next candidate chat and transcript on
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otw_news - Candidate manifestos on the OTW blog
OTW Board Election
Sep. 25th, 2012 14:28As you can read in a post on the OTW blog, in light of this year's election going uncontested (three candidates for three seats), I am happy to confirm that I will be joining the Board next year along with Franzeska Dickson and Eylul Dogruel. (In a moment of parochialism, I would just like to note that Eylul and I make four total Board members, past and present, furnished by the Internationalization & Outreach committee.)
I look forward to serving, but I'm also struck again by the amount of work before us. I'd like to thank everyone for their support and patience with that process in advance - I'm quite certain we'll need it.
I look forward to serving, but I'm also struck again by the amount of work before us. I'd like to thank everyone for their support and patience with that process in advance - I'm quite certain we'll need it.
I support open access
Sep. 22nd, 2012 12:27When academic journals are charging $20,000 for a subscription, they have become obstacles to knowledge rather than enablers. […] The new age of open access should have us learning from the wisdom of the founders of the United States, who saw copyright as a necessary temporary restriction on access that should last a reasonable period (fourteen years back then, seventy years after the death of the rights holder now) before a work would enter the public domain - a sensible balancing of incentives for creators and the good of an educated, creative public.
--David Weinberger, Too Big to Know (183-85)
There are people who will say that democracy is neither an intelligent nor a fair system, and that those who have the money are also the best rulers. But I say, first, that what is meant by the demos, or people, is the whole State, whereas an oligarchy is only a section of the State; and I say next that though the rich are the best people for looking after money, the best counsellors are the intelligent, and that it is the many who are best at listening to the different arguments and judging between them. And all alike, whether taken all together or as separate classes, have equal rights in a democracy. An oligarchy, on the other hand, certainly gives the many their share of dangers, but when it comes to the good things of life not only claims the largest share, but goes off with the whole lot. And this is what the rich men and the young men among you are aiming at; but in a great city these things are beyond your reach. What fools you are! In fact the stupidest of all the Hellenes I know, if you do not realize that your aims are evil, and the biggest criminals if you do realize this and still have the face to proceed with them.
--Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, VI.39-40
