Welcome aboard!“Awareness of Their Historical Roots Helps Us Better Understand Contemporary Conflicts.”Prof. Dr. Julia C. Schneider strengthens the Humanities

7 October 2024, by Schneider/Red.

Photo: Private

Prof. Dr. Julia C. Schneider

Every year, the University of Hamburg welcomes numerous new researchers. This series introduces them and their areas of research. This time: Sinologist Prof. Dr. Julia C. Schneider

Prof. Dr. Julia C. Schneider came to Hamburg in Winter Semester 2024/25 from the University College Cork in Ireland to take up a Professorship for Sinology in the Faculty of Humanities.

My research area in 3 sentences:

I am a historian specializing in Sinology (or Sinologist specialised in history?) with a special interest in historiography and Chinese intellectual and conceptual history. I particularly like to identify, critically examine, and overturn established, traditional historical narratives, which are, generally speaking, shaped by powerful people;

I am hence very interested in the representation of people treated as non-Chinese others—formerly called ‘barbarians,’ nowadays called ‘ethnic’ or ‘national minorities’—in Chinese texts from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and late imperial and Republican China (roughly 1890s–1940s).

This is how I explain my research to my family:

I am interested in how historiography, that is, the writing of history, works. In a nutshell: who writes down what and why? For example, why and how are specific notions of historical events emphasized or weakened? Why are certain people and events repeatedly mentioned in common historiography while others are concealed? What political ends can historiography possibly serve and in whose interest?

These questions are particularly relevant with regard to my interest in marginalized groups, including ethnic minorities and their origins in the East and Inner Asian context, mainly Manchurian, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Turkic-speaking groups. Since the beginning of the twentieth century and the rise of nationalism, these groups— due to their minority status determined by the majority culture—have been facing difficulties in practicing their own cultures, languages, and religions the world over. These difficulties have deep historical roots. Historical awareness helps us understand contemporary conflicts—unfortunately, it does not solve them.

That’s why I’m looking forward to Hamburg—both the city and the University.

At the University, I am most looking forward to enthusiastic students with an interest in China, East, and Inner Asia who are eager to study in depth the entire breadth of Hamburg’s Sinology curriculum; in the same way, I look forward to collaborating with colleagues who share my interest in the abovementioned regions and related issues.

I also look forward to finally get to know the city. So far, I have only paid Hamburg 3 short visits, although my grandmother partly grew up here and found accommodation with her children after World War II. About time to explore Hamburg.

These are my plans at the University of Hamburg:

I am planning to closely align my teaching with my research. This was not possible to the same extent during my previous employment at the University College Cork, so I am very happy about this opportunity here.

I will offer translation courses in classical Chinese, Manchu, seminars on rulership strategies during the Ming and Qing dynasties as well as on early Chinese nationalism. Over the next semesters, I plan to develop courses on further topics I have been focusing on for some time: questions relating to strategic rulership during the great Eurasian empires, including the Qing, Mughal, Safavids, Ottoman, and Romanov empires, if possible in cooperation with colleagues across disciplines. I will also concentrate on censorship of Chinese books during the eighteenth-century Manchu Qing dynasty. Particular attention will be given to Chinese texts about non-Chinese peoples.

This is why students should attend my courses:

I am enthusiastic about my research and I hope to also inspire my students with my enthusiasm. My courses are designed for students with an interest in Chinese, East, and Inner Asian history, in the critical examination of historiography, and questions related to non-Chinese ethnic and cultural minorities.

We will jointly translate texts in literary Chinese, a uniquely compact written language. I welcome language aficionados and aspiring aficionados who want to learn Manchu—another beautiful written language—with me.

Reaching out to the world: I work with the following international and federal institutions and universities:

Sinology is in itself a very international discipline. I have previously presented and published most of research in English. As research alliances are not standard in my field, I have hardly done any research within larger cooperations. I am rather building on the many research contacts I have established with colleagues at international universities, with whom I organize workshops or publish books, among other things.

Through my studies in Heidelberg, my doctoral work in Ghent, Belgium, and my teaching experience in Göttingen and Cork I am closely connected with my colleagues at these universities. Besides, I have established close ties with colleagues in Naples, Dublin, Vienna, London, Lancaster, St. Andrews, and Tianjin via current projects which I will maintain from Hamburg.

My research is important to society because:

In the past few years, news from the Xinjiang region in the western part of the People’s Republic of China have been getting worse. After monitoring measures targeting the Turkic-speaking Muslim population of this region grew increasingly close-meshed, millions of Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tajik people, including children and elderly people, have been detained in a concentration and prison system, suffering brainwashing, malnutrition, and even torture. This system has not been dismantled yet.

My research into the evolution of Chinese nationalism at the beginning of the twentieth century and Chinese ideas about so-called ‘barbarians’ during the Ming dynasty explains the historical narratives which have catered to the notion of non-Chinese minorities coined by both the Chinese government and the public.

What is the historical basis of the Chinese Communist Party’s ethnic policy, often incorrectly described as ‘assimilation,’ which is nothing more than the oppression of non-Chinese cultures, languages, and religions. By attempting to reveal the roots of this discourse, I hope to contribute to a better understanding of the current situation.