Preface

Summary

This volume discusses and analyzes innovative changes in historical thinking and historical writings in world cultures. Our intent with this book is to expand the horizon of our study of historiography, an academic field that was carved out more or less by modern Western scholars, and take into account the contributions of other cultures to our knowledge of the changes in the world over the past few millennia. As a project, it originated from a small conference held in West Point, New York, in 1995, organized by Professor Thomas H.C. Lee of the City University of New York and sponsored by the Chiang Ch’ing-kuo Foundation. It was part of a larger project called “Chinese and Comparative Historiography,” which Thomas Lee initiated and led from that time onward. Some of the contributors to this volume have participated in the project, along with many others from Asia, Europe, and North America. It was at Williams College, one of the subsequent meetings Thomas Lee organized in 1998, that the proposal for organizing an international conference on “Turning Points in Historical Thinking: A Comparative Perspective,” was finalized. We appreciate the suggestions and comments made toward the proposal by the participants at the meeting, including Peter Bol, James Hargett, Thomas Lee, Conrad Schirokauer, and Richard Vann. We are also grateful to the Chiang Ch’ing-kuo Foundation for funding the proposal, which provided the essential resources for organizing the conference at the State University of New York at Buffalo, in August 1999.

Dr. Thomas Burkman, director of the Asian Studies Program at SUNY Buffalo, played a key role in organizing the conference. Assisted by his office staff, especially Patricia Kratz, Dr. Burkman not only took care of all the logistics that ensured its success, but also contributed his ideas to the design of its program. We also would like to thank SUNY Buffalo and its Asian Studies Program for providing additional financial assistance for the conference. The conference also benefited from the participation and/or comments of Peter Bol (Harvard), Chou Liang-kai (Chung-hsing University, Taiwan), Roger Des Forges (Buffalo), Carol Gluck (Columbia), Hsu Cho-yun (Pittsburgh), Thomas Keirstead (Buffalo), Achim Mittag (Bielefeld, Germany), Carlos Antonio Rojas (Mexico), Jörn Rüsen (Essen, Germany), Stefan Tanaka (University of California at San Diego), Yü Ying-shih (Princeton), and Zhang Zhilian (Peking University).