In Conversation with Dr. Judd Kinzley (UW Madison), "Uneasy Allies: Sino-American Relations at the Grassroots, 1937-1949" (Cambridge U. Press)

Zoom only at https://csusb.zoom.us/j/388207496

 

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Judd Kinzley (U. of Wisconsin, Madison), author of many articles and books including a monograph on the place of Xinjiang in Chinese history, Natural Resources and the New Frontier: Constructing Modern China's Borderlands (U. of Chicago Press, 2018) and editor/author of Uneasy Allies: Sino-American Relations at the Grassroots, 1937-1949 (Cambridge U. Press, 2024).

 

On Natural Resources and the New Frontier, from the publisher's website: "China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang has experienced escalating cycles of violence, interethnic strife, and state repression since the 1990s. In their search for the roots of these growing tensions, scholars have tended to focus on ethnic clashes and political disputes. In Natural Resources and the New Frontier, historian Judd C. Kinzley takes a different approach—one that works from the ground up to explore the infrastructural and material foundation of state power in the region... As Kinzley argues, Xinjiang’s role in producing various natural resources for regional powers has been an important but largely overlooked factor in fueling unrest. He carefully traces the buildup to this unstable situation over the course of the twentieth century by focusing on the shifting priorities of Chinese, Soviet, and provincial officials regarding the production of various resources, including gold, furs, and oil among others. Through his archival work, Kinzley offers a new way of viewing Xinjiang that will shape the conversation about this important region and offer a model for understanding the development of other frontier zones in China as well as across the global south."

 

On Uneasy Allies, from the publisher's website: "This timely collection of essays examines Sino-American relations during the Second World War, the Chinese Civil War and the opening of the Cold War. Drawing on new sources uncovered in China, Taiwan, the UK and the US, the authors demonstrate how 'grassroots' engagements - not just elite diplomacy - established the trans-Pacific networks that both shaped the postwar order in Asia, and continue to influence Sino-US relations today. In these crucial years, servicemen, scientists, students, businesspeople, activists, bureaucrats and many others travelled between the US and China. In every chapter, this innovative volume's approach uncovers their stories using both Chinese and English language sources. By examining interactions among various Chinese and American actors in the dynamic wartime environment, Uneasy Allies reveals a new perspective on the foundations of American power, the brittle nature of the Sino-American relationship, and the early formation of the institutions that shaped the Cold War Pacific."