Elke Papelitzky

Get involved - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies As an open, interdisciplinary platform we are always thinking up new ways to collaborate and bring people into the work we do.

we made a "get involved" page for @uio-oceh.bsky.social, for anyone who wants to collaborate or just come and hang out.

www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english...

Planned Research Projects Here you can find an overview of all research projects and the corresponding job vacancies in the Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster of Excellence.

12 Phd/ 17 Postdoc positions (fully funded) in the new Cross-Cultural Philology Cluster at LMU Munich: www.lmu.de/crosscultura... (apply by Oct 21).

Tenure-track position in contemporary Chinese society (283182) | University of Oslo Job title: Tenure-track position in contemporary Chinese society (283182), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, October 27, 2025

My department is hiring! Apply to join me in Oslo :)
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

i am going to say something very mean

if you cannot handle footnotes, it is not that there are too many footnotes, it is actually a you problem

Wikipedia is hands-down one of the most authoritative, accurate, transparent, & full-cited informational sites in the observable universe, and has been since like 2015.

And no, you don’t “use it as a source,” just like you don’t use Google as a “source.” It’s a source of sources. You scroll down…

Such an excellent book, great to see it out as paperback!

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship associated with the ERC-funded project "ECOART" (284675) | University of Oslo Job title: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship associated with the ERC-funded project "ECOART" (284675), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Postdoc Opportunity!

Dr. Anna Grasskamp at Oslo seeks a postdoctoral fellow specializing in the early modern Philippines to investigate the artistic use and visual representation of geographical, geological, botanical, zoological, and climatic resources in Eurasia.

www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

We just launched the new 7th edition of Wilkinson, this time as a digital-only version but available through Kindle and Apple Books as well as through Pleco. $59.99, or $29.99 if you buy it in Pleco as an upgrade from 5/e or 6/e.

Knowing an Empire: Early Modern Chinese and Spanish Worlds in Dialogue Revealing dynamic dialogues between early modern China and Latin America through a new methodology Knowing an Empire: Early Modern Chinese and Spanish Worlds in Dialogue unveils how these two vast emp...

new OA book, Knowing an Empire. Early Modern Chinese and Spanish Worlds in Dialogue, edited by Mackenzie Cooley & Wu Huiyi (in which I wrote a medieval chapter: "Imperial Territorial Data Before the Age of Print"), available here: www.fulcrum.org/concern/mono...

'Taking over this role is an extraordinary privilege and opportunity. I have big shoes to fill and I am conscious of the responsibility, but I greatly look forward to working alongside John Gallagher, Bruce Bruschi, and the rest of the editorial team and editorial board, scholars I deeply admire. I am excited to read all the new historical research that colleagues around the world may wish to send our way.' Sara Caputo, incoming Editor at The Historical Journal

📣We are delighted to announce that Sara Caputo (@saracaputo.bsky.social) has been appointed as an Editor of The Historical Journal!

Caputo is a specialist in maritime history, imperial history and the history of medicine, and we are thrilled that she is lending her expertise to the journal📘

‘Ticking timebomb’: sea acidity has reached critical levels, threatening entire ecosystems – study Ocean acidification has already crossed a crucial threshold for planetary health, scientists say in unexpected finding

Your 'moment of doom' for June 8, 2025 ~ Climate cliché alert!

"The deeper in the ocean they looked, the worse the findings were, the scientists said. At 200 metres below the surface, 60% of global waters had breached the 'safe' limit for acidification."

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

EFEO Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient PhD Contract Opportunity in Modern Chinese History (18th-19th Centuries) Work Environnement This doctoral contract is part of the Franco-Taiwanese research project CRISOLIC (ANR-24-CE27-4500), coordinated by Luca Gabbiani, Professor of Chinese History at the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), Wu Jen-Shu, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica (Taipei), and Frédéric Constant, Professor of Law at Université Nice Côte d'Azur. The Franco-Taiwanese research program CRISOLIC (Crime and Society in Late Imperial China) focuses on the study of crime in 18th- and 19th-century China (Qing dynasty) Considering that the absence of reliable, large-scale data for a country that then encompassed roughly 30% of the global population impedes the writing of a global history of crime -— and that this gap also limits our understanding of the social history of late imperial China - the project seeks to address this lacuna by combining empirical research with analysis at the intersection of legal and social history. Drawing on judicial records from the four principal collections of Qing local archives, supplemented by central judicial documents, the international research team aims to to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of criminality during this period, provide a detailed profile of the criminal population, and identify major trends in crime over nearly two centuries. This quantitative analysis is complemented by qualitative case studies conducted by individual team members, focusing on the social and institutional contexts of specific types of crime, discrepancies between legal definitions and popular perceptions, and patterns of unreported In parallel, the team is developing and applying handwritten text recognition (HTR) technologies to produce accessible text versions of a substantial body of Chinese judicial documents, thus fostering new research opportunities in the field. The École française d'Extrê…

EFEO École française d'Extrême-Orient Topic of the PhD dissertation The doctoral dissertation topic, to be determined in consultation with the supervisors, will fall within the field of the history of crime in Qing dynasty China (1644-1911). It may focus on the study of a specific type of crime based on documentation available in one or more local archival collections, analyze the social context of criminality in one or several regions of the empire, or examine the institutional framework for combating crime from a diachronic perspective. Dissertation Supervision, Enrollment Institution, and Host Institution The PhD candidate will be jointly supervised by Frédéric Constant (Université Nice Côte d'Azur) and Luca Gabbiani (EFEO-EHESS). Enrollment may take place at either Doctoral School 286 (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales - EHESS) or Doctoral School 472 (École Pratique des Hautes Études - EPHE, affiliated with Paris Sciences et Lettres - PSL University). The École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) will act as the host institution and will be responsible for the administrative management of the doctoral contract. Terms of Reference The primary focus of the PhD candidate's work will be on preparing the dissertation. In addition, they will be responsible for the following tasks within the CRISOLIC program: • Participate in the revision and correction of criminological data extracted semi-automatically from documents • Contribute to the development and implementation of the criminological database • Create and maintain the general bibliography for the project (primary sources and secondary scholarly literature) • Contribute to updating the project's Hypothèses Blog/Notebook • Monitor events, projects, and publications related to the project themes, as well as any relevant information that may be of interest to project members • Participate in the organization of project meetings and events, and take part in them Participate in some of the research trips and …

• EFEO École française d'Extrême-Orient Skills • A Master's degree (or equivalent) in Chinese language, literature, and/or history, or in the humanities and social sciences, provided the candidate has a strong command of the Chinese language. • Languages: French (B2), English (B2), proficiency in modern Chinese, good knowledge of classical Chinese. • Ability to write reports or articles for a blog. • Software proficiency: Word, Excel, Zotero. Familiarity with digital humanities tools (databases, visualization tools, Al) would be an asset. Personal Attributes • Intellectual curiosity and critical thinking. • Ability to work effectively in a team. • Organizational skills and autonomy in work. • Capacity to support decision-making. Responsiveness and availability. Recruitment Conditions As part of its commitment to professional equality and diversity, the EFEO stands against all forms of discrimination and encourages all eligible candidates to submit their applications. Contract Start Date and Duration The doctoral contract is available from September 2025, for a duration of 36 months. Primary Workplace Paris A work computer will be provided by the CRISOLIC program. Salary and Benefits Monthly salary: €2,300 gross. Application Submission and Contact Applications (CV and cover letter) should be sent by email to the French coordinators of the CRISOLIC program: luca.gabbiani@efeo.net, frederic.constant@univ-cotedazur.fr. Application Deadline May 30, 2025 Selected candidates will be invited for an interview during the month of June, which will be held at the EFEO headquarters in Paris (either the week of June 9 or the week of June 23). The interview may be conducted online if necessary. 22, avenue du Président Wilson - 75116 Paris www.efeo.fr - Tél. : 33 (0)1 53 70 18 60 - Fax : 33 (0)1 53 70 87 60 BANGKOK . CHIANG MAI . HANOI . HONG KONG . JAKARTA • KUALA LUMPUR . KYOTO - PARIS PÉKIN PHNOM PENH . PONDICHÉRY . PUNE . SÉOUL . SIEM REAP . TAPEI . TOKYO . VIENTIANE -YANGON

Job 📣
3-year funded PhD position in modern Chinese history with a broad focus on crime/Qing legal history)

Part of an ANR team led by colleagues at EFEO, Academia Sinica, and Université Nice Côte d'Azur, and based in Paris, France.

Deadline: May 30, 2025

How did early modern Chinese navigate? What tools did they use? And did they exclusively rely on the compass? Check out my newest article for some answers: doi.org/10.1017/jch....

Logo for the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, with Wayback in red and Machine in black.

🔗 Websites vanish. Links break. But knowledge can live on with your help. Use the Wayback Machine’s Save Page Now tool to archive webpages that are important to you. 🕰️ 💾

📌 Try it now: web.archive.org/save

Listen to Mario Cams and me talk about our edited volume "Remapping the World in East Asia" on the New Books Network! newbooksnetwork.com/remapping-th...

A photo of the book Chinese Characters Across Asia by Zev Handel

🎉 🎉 🎉

a yellow cat with its eyes closed and a fist in its mouth . Alt: GIF of cartoon cat fiercely crying "加油"

Have you ever noticed that there is something strange about the Mandarin word wǎsī '(natural) gas'? Looking at the written form 瓦斯, it just doesn’t seem like a typical Chinese compound word. What's a roof tile got to do with gas?

Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on. 加油!

1/

Where is tianxia?
In an article that was just published in Modern Asian Studies, I looked at the titles of maps from the fifteenth to eighteenth century to try to get closer to an answer to that question.

It's open access thanks to the University of Oslo!
doi.org/10.1017/S002...

My article on C18th/19th experiences of lightning at sea is out with Transactions.

This is the most engrossing and disconcerting topic that I've ever fallen into researching. (Sad, too.)

TRHS's editorial process was exceptionally nice and fast: highly recommended!

#histmed #histSTM
bit.ly/4jz7RSf

Check out an article I co-wrote with Mario Cams on a Ming period world map signed and stamped by the Jesuit Giulio Aleni held in Kobe, Japan.

Similar map sheets have been discussed before, but all date to the Qing period.

www.cambridge.org/core/product...

Photo Eric Broncard/Hans Lucas/AFP

#Chine
The Tang without #Tibet ?

Under pressure from the Chinese authorities, the Musée Guimet des arts asiatiques is said to be deleting the word “Tibet” from its labels.
The museum has just inaugurated an exhibition on the Tang.

www.courrierinternational.com/article/vu-d...

Added 7 more Sinologists 🀄️ 📚

share and follow, follow and share!
go.bsky.app/RzD3VSE

Eyyy Sengoku historian @tokusei.bsky.social is now here! I've been trying to keep up the starter pack on premodern/early modern Japan as I see folks, but it's been noisy as everyone migrates. Hit me up if I missed you and/or you just arrived. go.bsky.app/AzGURTW

Cover of forthcoming book Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese (by Zev Handel, University of Washington Press, 2025)

If I can finish proofreading and make the index in time, my new book will come out in January. 📖

I've been working on it for five years so I'm pretty excited that it will soon be a reality. I'd like to tell you a bit about it.

1/16

Repost (replacing the previous pack due to technical issue). You're welcome to join this more focused group of international scholars working on late imperial China. Please feel free to share and reply if you're interested, and add hashtag #lateimperialchina to future posts.
go.bsky.app/EB214nL

Added more people to the Sinologists 🀄️📚 started pack! Keepo sharing, following, and commenting!

go.bsky.app/RzD3VSE

Geiss Hsu Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ming Studies - Department of Asian Studies Applications to close on January 15, 2025 at 5pm PDT.

New two-year postdoc on Ming studies at UBC! App deadline January 15, 2025

📣 Job klaxon
Associate/Full professor of Chinese studies at the University of Geneva (premodern history, philology, classical literature, philosophy, history of religion)

Transregional (Japan, Korea) focus appreciated, knowledge of French a must

Deadline: Dec. 19
jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_porta...

Just launched: Taiwan Open Access Journals (TOAJ) 臺灣學術期刊開放取用平台, featuring features many well-known titles, including 台灣文學研究學報 Journal of Taiwan Literary Studies, 臺灣史研究 Taiwan Historical Research, 漢學研究 Chinese Studies...

toaj.stpi.narl.org.tw/index

Remapping the World in East Asia: Toward a Global History of the “Ricci Maps” When European missionaries arrived in East Asia in the sixteenth century, they entered ongoing conversations about cosmology and world geography. Soon after, intellectuals in Ming China, Edo Japan, an...

It’s printed completely in color, thanks to grants from the University of Macau, Geiss-Hsu Foundation, and the MacLean Collection. It's already available directly from Hawai’i University Press. If you want to buy it from Amazon, you will have to wait until February. tinyurl.com/2th4x24d