Welcome!

This website provides resources for undergraduate students for East Asian history, the occasional blog post about teaching with digital tools and pedagogy, and the series #DigitalToolsForTeaching. You can also check out some of my recent research output.

From 16 March 2020 to April 30, I blogged daily about how I re-shaped my courses on the hoof, for remote learning during the Covid19 pandemic; and I also provided Mon-Fri daily briefings for courses [archived, available on request]. From Fall 20 onwards the Daily Course Announcements had their own website [archived, available on request], but I will continue to blog here periodically.

More links and resources will be added to the site. Scroll down for quick links to the courses of the current semester!

(Header image: Mr. Selden’s Map of China, Bodleian Library, Oxford ; Background image: “Northeast reindeer” by Guiseppe Castiglione, 1745)

Courses taught

Note: links to PDFs no longer accessible

HST107 China’s Magical Creatures

A cultural history of the strange, exploring the Chinese world view and how strange and anomalous events, creatures and objects were (and sometimes still are) explained. We created our own textbook, now available online as an OER (Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA). Check it out! China’s Magical Creatures (and where to find them)

Fulfills the DE and HU requirement.

Check out the course website!

HST124 Half the Sky- Women in Chinese History

“Women hold up half the sky”, but they usually don’t occupy half of your history book on China. This course provides you with an overview of the great issues, questions and women in Chinese history from the neolithic to the present.
Fulfills the DE and HU requirements.

Check out the Course website!

HST137: People and Their Stuff in Chinese History

DE and HU! A history of Chinese material culture: This course explores the historical context of some of the most iconic objects of Chinese history, and traces the link between China’s traditional material culture and the present. We also look at how attitudes towards objects and their historical significance have changed through the centuries. Finally, we investigate how Chinese objects ended up in Western (and in particular American) museums, and what implications this has for “Chinese material culture”.

Find the course website here: https://hst137.tinekedhaeseleer.net/

HST259: Korean History

In this course, we study the history of the Korean peninsula, from the earliest times of human habitation to the present. Whether you are interested in learning the origins of the current crisis with North Korea, want to test the historical accuracy of your favorite Korean drama, or are all about the arts, culture and literature of the peninsula across more than two millennia of recorded history, you are sure to find something in this course you like.

The course and its contents are drive by YOU, the students: your interests will shape the direction of our journey through time on the peninsula.

Bring your curiosity, topics, ideas, and questions to class, and you will be able to learn everything you’ve always wanted to know, but never had a chance to learn about Korea and its history!

HST267 Intro to Traditional Japan

A survey course covering the history of Japan from the prehistory to approx. 1800, with plenty of primary sources (in translation) to bring you closer to the history.

Check out the Course website!

HST271: Modern China

DE and HU! A survey course for modern China’s history, from 1600 to the present.

Check out the website for Fall 2020 here.