Zhihong Chen to Deliver Annual Newlin Lecture in History Nov. 9
The intersection of environment and human development will be the subject of the annual Algie I. Newlin Lecture, delivered by history professor Zhihong Chen on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the college Community Center.
In her talk, “Place and Race: How Geographers Defined Racial and Ethnic Identities in Early 20th Century China,” Chen will look at how a group of Chinese geographers used their knowledge of climate to legitimize racial and ethnic ideologies from the 1910s through the 1930s. The lecture will ask to what extent climate determines human character and how this geographical knowledge can be used to justify racial and ethnic boundaries.
Chen is an assistant professor of history, teaching courses in pre-modern and modern Chinese, Japanese, and Asia Pacific history. A primary area of interest is the ethnic and geographic formation of the modern Chinese nation. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Beijing University in Beijing, China, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of History at 336-316-2226.
The Algie I. Newlin Lecture, sponsored annually by the history department, honors a key member of the department from 1924-66.
Nov. 2, 2009