Modernity and National Identity in the United States and East Asia

Preface and Acknowledgments

Preface and Acknowledgments The scope of this book arises from an inability to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought I had left behind my undergraduate degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations when, after a hiatus of many years, I entered the Ph.D. program at The Ohio State University intending to focus on U.S. foreign relations. Not satisfied with a conventional diplomatic study and method, I found myself drawn to the cultural approach and intrigued by the idea of using my hardearned language skills for a multiarchival, multilanguage study. A reading course with Chang Hao sharpened my interest in intellectual history and focused my attention on the period of 1895–1919, while seminars with Leila Rupp opened my eyes to the possibilities of using gender analysis. When my adviser, Michael Hogan , encouraged me to “think big” in framing a dissertation topic, I decided to see what would happen if I combined all of the above interests. Later I was inexorably drawn to the intellectual history of the Progressive Era and naturally, it seemed to me, to questions of internationalism, national identity, and modernity. This book accordingly draws some connections among fields not usually studied together while epitomizing my own intellectual trajectory. The result owes its greatest debt to the work of historians Akira Iriye and Michael Hunt, who pioneered the cultural approach to the international history of U.S.–East Asian relations. Their influence is evident throughout these pages. In writing this book I have incurred many other debts over the years, both practical and less tangible. Financial support for research trips came from a Foreign Languages Area Studies fellowship; a Graduate Student International Research Travel Grant from The Ohio State University; a W. Stull Holt Memorial Fellowship from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations; and, from the University of Toronto, the Connaught Start-up Grant, additional research funding from the dean’s office, and a number of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Institutional grants. Good librarians and archivists can make all the difference between a successful research trip and a miserable one. I would particularly like to thank Raymond Lum at the Harvard-Yenching Library; the late Sue Cohen at the West Ohio Conference, United Methodist Archives Center, Ohio Wesleyan University; Drew Kadel at the Burke Library Union Theological Seminary; and Joan Duffy in Special Collections, ix Yale Divinity Library, all of whom provided crucial assistance in the very early stages of shaping the project. I also received valuable assistance from the staff members at Houghton Library, Harvard University; the Rare Book and Manuscript Library and Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University; Special Collections, University of Oregon Libraries; Manuscript Division, Library of Congress; the Institute for Modern History, Academia Sinica; the First Historical Archives, Beijing; the Modern History Room at the Shanghai Library; and the Shanghai Municipal Archives. At the University of Toronto Libraries, staff of the government documents, microfilm, and interlibrary loan departments were extremely helpful, while Sara MacDowell helped keep me up-to-date on the ever-expanding world of electronic resources. At Ohio State, not only did Michael Hogan tell me to think big, he also gave me plenty of room to figure out what that meant and to follow my instincts in all kinds of directions. The other members of my dissertation committee, Peter Hahn and Christopher Reed, contributed careful reading and helpful suggestions . Members of Leila Rupp’s seminar, especially Jenn Walton, Marc Horger, and Stephanie Gilmore, provided constructive feedback on early drafts of chapters . David and Hsin-hsin Wittner, Leigh Ann and Joe Craig, and John, Nancy, and Erin Tully cheerfully put me up on return visits to Columbus. At the University of Oklahoma, Rob Griswold fostered a congenial environment for new faculty members, even visiting ones. The “girlies” welcomed me into their ranks and provided a warm mutual support group and social cohort. Ray Canoy provided, at all the right times, commiseration and good cheer, sanity, and a bit of insanity. Ron Pruessen and Jane Abray at the University of Toronto were supportive and helpful as successive chairs during my pretenure years, and I am grateful to the history department for a semester off as a junior faculty member to complete the research for this book. Ron, Bob Bothwell, and Doris Bergen have all in different ways been valuable mentors to me. Doris also offered a close editing of an earlier version of the introduction; her insightful suggestions were crucial in...