Chinese Historian Alexander Cook to Present Sherman Emerging Scholars Lecture on Oct. 19
10/12/2006 11:50:32 AM
E-Mail | Print
Downloadable Photos
Wilmington, NC - Alexander C. Cook, visiting lecturer in Chinese History at Brown University, has been named the fifth Sherman Emerging Scholar in the Department of History at University of North Carolina Wilmington. He was selected in a national competition for this distinction.
In the capacity of a Sherman Emerging Scholar, Cook will deliver a public lecture, "China from Mao to the WTO: Experiments in the Laws of History," at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19 in the Warwick Center Ballroom.
A reception will immediately follow the lecture in the lobby of the Warwick Center. The lecture is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.
Cook explained that his topic is particularly relevant today. "In a global age, the United States and China cannot afford to live in ignorance of each other," he said. "The intersection of two very different histories demands active engagement and mutual understanding -- especially when it comes to values we do not necessarily share."
The lecture will explore China since the late 1970s, while the Chinese Communist Party has presided over a 30-year transformation of China, from vanguard of world revolution to market economy and global trade power. Still, the far-reaching changes in Chinese society mask an underlying continuity in Chinese socialist ideology: an enduring faith in the view, shared by Marx and Mao, that societies develop according to fixed principles that can be grasped and harnessed for modernization and the betterment of man. China's startling post-Mao reforms can be seen as ambitious experiments to test these supposed "laws of history." Yet history is not easily understood-much less tamed. While the Party's experiments demonstrate a commitment to the socialist view of history, they have also unleashed forces of dynamism and destruction that threaten to undermine the socialist system itself.
Cook is a visiting lecturer in Chinese History at Brown University and a Ph.D. candidate in Chinese History at Columbia University. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Whiting Fellowship and a Fulbright Grant, and has lived and studied in Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei.
In addition to the public lecture, Cook will visit Wilmington Oct. 18-21, conduct informal seminars with faculty and students, and guest lecture in several classes.
The Sherman Emerging Scholars Lecture Series is the first endowed lecture series for the UNCW History Department. Announced in April 2002, the series is named in honor of the late Derrick and Virginia Sherman, who made Wilmington their home after retirement. The endowment was established in honor of the Shermans by their son, Philip D. Sherman and his wife, Birgitta L. Sherman, and their daughter, Ann Sherman Skiba and husband Guenther Skiba.
This lecture series, an annual event during the week marking United Nations Day, is designed to provide a forum for promising new scholars to present their perspectives on current issues in the fields of modern history, politics, and international relations to the university community and to the public.
The History Department is extremely grateful to the Sherman family. Their generosity greatly enhances the department's ability to carry out its teaching and public service missions.
Individuals seeking additional information may contact Taylor Fain III, assistant professor of history, at 910.962.3305.
Downloadable Photos
Alexander Cook
|
