Hui’s talk centres on her foundational question: “What is China?” She argues that many social scientists take China’s historical narrative for granted, often depicting it as a unified, Confucian state that was powerful yet peaceful. In contrast, Hui’s research reveals a complex, multifaceted past. “China” was as divided as it was unified, as violent as it was harmonious, as innovative as it was stagnant. Dynastic histories feature brutal wars of unification, mass killings of rebellions, coercive homogenization of minorities, and even genocidal actions. Yet, the constant warfare spurred innovations like the compass, gunpowder, and movable printing—advances that reached Europe and facilitated the rise of the West. This competitive environment also laid down building blocks for citizenship rights, international treaties, and trade. The talk unearths these alternative trajectories buried under the singular Confucian narrative of China’s history.
About the speaker
Victoria Tin-Bor Hui is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. Her first research paradigm examines the impact of violence on the historical evolution of “China.” She is the author of War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2005), and her articles have featured in top-tier journals including International Theory and International Organization. Beyond historical research, Professor Hui analyzes the dynamics of resistance and repression in global struggles for freedom, particularly in Hong Kong. She is a scholar-activist, writing extensively on protest and repression, testifying before Congress, and providing commentary in international media. Her writings include “Crackdown: Hong Kong Faces Tiananmen 2.0” (Journal of Democracy), “The Bad Birth and Premature Death of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in Hong Kong” (Academia Sinica Law Journal), and “Hong Kong’s New Police State” (The Diplomat). Professor Hui is a co-founder of the Hong Kong Democracy Council and served as a fellow with the Congressional-Executive Commission on China supported by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2021-22.
About the convenor
Manjeet S. Pardesi is Associate Professor of International Relations in the Political Science and International Relations Programme, and Asia Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. His research interests include Historical International Relations, Great Power Politics, Asian security, and the Sino-Indian rivalry. He is the co-author of The Sino-Indian Rivalry: Implications for Global Order (with Sumit Ganguly and William R. Thompson, Cambridge University Press, 2023). He is currently working on a book project titled Worlds in Contrast: Hegemonic and Multiplex Orders in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean (with Amitav Acharya, forthcoming with Yale University Press). His articles have appeared in European Journal of International Relations, Security Studies, Survival, Global Studies Quarterly, Asian Security, Australian Journal of International Affairs, International Politics, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, International Studies Perspectives, Nonproliferation Review, Air & Space Power Journal (of the United States Air Force), The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, World Policy Journal, India Review, Defense and Security Analysis, and in several edited book volumes. He is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of India’s National Security (Oxford, 2018) and India’s Military Modernization: Challenges and Prospects (Oxford, 2014). He is the Managing Editor of the journal Asian Security (since June 2018).
Join Zoom Meeting
https://anu.zoom.us/j/86025204536?pwd=cm5JeXdScUdVT0F4bVpNOWlIa3NDUT09
Meeting ID: 860 2520 4536
Password: GRADNAS24
15 November 2024, 9AM, Canberra Time
15 November 2024, 11AM, Wellington Time
14 November 2024, 5PM, Indiana (USA) Time/EST
This event is the fifth in the GRADNAS Seminar Series of 2024. The series will showcase the emerging scholarship on the historical International Relations of Asia. There has been a “global” and a “historical” turn in International Relations scholarship in recent years. Scholars are increasingly looking at Asian history to enrich International Relations theory. What are the theoretical insights that emerge from studying Asian history? Does Asian history provide us with new concepts and new understandings of order? Does Asian history challenge the received metanarratives of International Relations theory? How were historical Asian polities connected with each other and with the world beyond Asia? Can the International Relations theoretical findings from Asian history shed light on other parts of the world? What, if anything, do these findings tell us about the emerging world order? Join us as we celebrate and showcase the excellent research by GRADNAS members and friends on the Historical International Relations of Asia. Visit our website here.
For more information, contact the GRADNAS Coordinator, Tommy Chai at gradnas@anu.edu.au.