Jonathan Skaff's Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

University of Michigan, Ph.D., History, awarded December 1998

Dissertation: "Straddling Steppe and Sown: Tang China's Relations with the Nomads of Inner Asia (640-756)" {Abstract}

Committee Chair: Chun-shu Chang

Preliminary examination fields: premodern China, modern China, medieval Near East and Inner Asia, and premodern Japan, passed in January 1994

University of Michigan, M.A., History, 1992

Hobart College, Geneva, NY, B.A. in History, cum laude, 1982
 

ACADEMIC HONORS and FELLOWSHIPS

National

• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2007-2008
• Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, Membership, Fall 2007
• American Philosophical Society, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sabbatical Fellowship, 2006-2007
• Committee on Scholarly Communication with China, Graduate Fellowship for Research in China, 1995-96
• U.S. Department of Education, Jacob J. Javits Graduate Fellowship, 1991-95
• Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship in Arabic (Declined), 1991-92

International

• Invited Research Fellow, “Officials on the Chinese Borders Colloquium,” supported by École française d'Extrême-Orient, Academia Sinica (Taipei), and China Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing) at Taibei, Taiwan, October 2-4, 2006.
• Invited Participant, "Sogdians in China: New Research in History, Archaeology, and Philology," National Library of China , supported by École française d'Extrême-Orient, National Library of China, and other organizations, Beijing, April 22-25, 2004.
• Invited Participant, “Military Culture in Imperial Chinese History Conference,” supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, January 10-12, 2003.
• Project Member, "The Silk Road Project: Reuniting Turfan's Scattered Treasures," a Luce Foundation U.S.-China Cooperative Research Program, 1995-98
• Peking University Tuition Scholarship, 1995-96

University of Michigan

• University of Michigan, Center for Chinese Studies Endowment Award, 1996-98
• University of Michigan, History Department, Bockman-Mayer Fellowship, 1995-96
• University of Michigan, Rackham Dissertation Grant, 1995-96
• University of Michigan, Rackham Conference Travel Grant, 1992, 1997
• University of Michigan, Rackham Non-Traditional Fellowship, 1990-91

PUBLICATIONS

Book

• Sui-Tang China and its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power and Connections, 580-800, Oxford University Press, Oxford Studies in Early Empires series, forthcoming, June 2012.
  • Amazon preorder.

Articles and Book Chapters

• “Tang Military Culture and Its Inner Asian Influences.” In Military Culture in Imperial China, Nicola Di Cosmo, ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009, pp. 165-191.
• Co-author with William Honeychurch. "Empire Building before the Mongols: Legacies of the Türks and Uyghurs." In Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire, edited by William Fitzhugh, Morris Rossabi and William Honeychurch. Seattle: Dino Don Inc./Genghis Khan Exhibits, University of Washington Press, 2009, pp. 84-89.
• "Loyalties Divided: The Question of Ethnicity in the Tang-Türgish Conflict of 708-9." Early Medieval China, 13-14 (2008): 171-190.
• “Documenting Sogdian Society at Turfan in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries: Tang Dynasty Census Records as a Window on Cultural Distinction and Change.” In Les Sogdiens en Chine. Etienne de la Vaissière and Eric Trombert, eds. Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, 2005.
• “Survival in the Frontier Zone: Comparative Perspectives on Identity and Political Allegiance in China's Inner Asian Borderlands during the Sui-Tang Dynastic Transition (617-630).” {Full Text Article} Journal of World History. Vol. 15 no. 2, (June 2004): 117-153. 
• “The Sogdian Trade Diaspora in East Turkestan during the Seventh and Eighth Centuries.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 46, no. 4 (2003): 475-524. {Abstract}
• “Western Turk Rule of Turkestan's Oases in the Sixth through Eighth Centuries.” In The Turks. Ankara: Yeni Türkiye, 2002: 364-72. {Abstract}
• "Barbarians at the Gates?  The Tang Frontier Military and the An Lushan Rebellion."  War and Society 18, no. 2 (2000): 23-35.  {Abstract}
  • Reprinted in Warfare in China to 1600. Peter Lorge, ed., Aldershot, UK: Ashagate Publishing. Part of the International Library of Essays in Military History, Jeremy Black, General Editor.
• Translation from Chinese of Chen Guocan. "The Turfan Documents at Princeton's Gest Library." {Full Text Article} Early Medieval China 6 (2000): 74-103.
• "The Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian Silver Coins from Turfan: Their Relationship to International Trade and the Local Economy." Asia Major 11 (1998 [2000]), 67-115. {Abstract}

Articles for General Readership

• “Sogdian Settlers and Merchants at Tang Dynasty Turfan (7th-8th Centuries); A Documentary Tour.” Golden Web World History Internet Project, forthcoming.

Publications Translated into Other Languages

• “He de "bianshi jiebao"?--Tangdai xibei 648, 655, 657 nian zhu zhanyi zhihuiguan de junshi wenhua xingdong” (The Culture of Frontier Victory: Commanders of the Tang Northwestern Campaigns of 648, 655, and 657). In Bianchen yu jiangli (Les fonctionnaires des frontieres), edited by P. Calanca and F. Jajou. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 2007.
• “Gongyuan 7-8 shiji Gaochang Sute shehui de wenxian jilu: Tangchao huji suo jian de chayi he yanbian,” In Suteren zai Zhongguo—lishi, kaogu, yuyan de xin tansuo. Rong Xinjiang, et al., eds. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005, pp. 141-177. Chinese translation of “Documenting Sogdian Society at Turfan.”
• “VI-VII. Asirlarda Türkistan Vahalarinda Bati Türk Hakimiyeti.” In Türkler.  Ankara: Yeni Türkiye, 2002, vol. 2: 97-106. Turkish translation of “Western Turk Rule of Turkestan's Oases.”
• “Tulufan faxian de Sashan yinbi he Alabo-Sashan yinbi—tamen yu guoji maoyi he difang jingji de guanxi.” Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu {Dunhuang and Turfan Studies (Beijing)} 4 (1999): 419-63. Chinese translation of “The Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian Silver Coins from Turfan.”

Book Reviews

• The Great Wall: A Cultural History. Carlos Rojas. Choice. (September 2011).
• The Blacks of Premodern China. Don J. Wyatt. Choice. (September 2010).
• China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Mark Edward Lewis. Choice. (May 2010).
• Ethnic Identity in Tang China. Marc Samuel Abramson. Archivum Eurasiae medii aevi. 16 (2008/2009): 289-92.
• Bureaucracy and the State in Early China: Governing the Western Zhou. Feng Li. Choice. (February 2010).
• Trade and Contemporary Society along the Silk Road: An Ethno-History of Ladakh. Jacqueline H. Fewkes. Choice. (December 2009).
• Subjects and Masters: Uyghurs in the Mongol Empire. Michael C. Brose. Journal of Asian Studies. (February 2009).
• Kingship in Early Medieval China. Andrew Eisenberg. Choice. (January 2009).
• Unbounded Loyalty: Frontier Crossings in Liao China. Naomi Standen. Choice. (December 2008).
• Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty: His Life, Times, and Legacy. Victor Cunrui Xiong. Choice. (October 2006).
• Politics and Conservatism in North China: The Career and Thought of Sima Guang (A.D. 1019-1086) by Ji Xiao-bin.  Choice. (April 2006).
• Ambassadors from the Islands of Immortals: China-Japan Relations in the Han-Tang Period. Wang Zhenping. Choice. (March 2006).
• Mongols, Turks, and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World. edited by Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran. Archivum Eurasiae medii aevi (2005).
• T'ang China: the Rise of the East in World History by S.A.M. Adshead. Choice. (February 2005).
• Genghis  Khan: Conqueror of the World by Leo de Hartog. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 35, no. 1 (2001): 92-3.

PRESENTATIONS

Invited Lectures with Honoraria or Expenses

• “Political Integration through Patronage: Inner Asians in Tang Dynasty (618-907) China's Military,” Harvard University, Inner Asia and Altaic Studies Program Lunchtime Lecture Series, March 9, 2011.
• “Beyond the Silk Roads: Cultural Interaction and Exchange along Tang China's Northern Borderlands,” University of Pennsylvania, East Asia Humanities Colloquium, October 11, 2007.
• NEH Summer Institute for College and University Teachers, The Silk Road: Early Globalization and Chinese Cultural Identity, sponsored by the Asian Studies Development Program of the East-West Center and the University of Hawai'i, delivered 4 lectures and participated on 2 panel discussions, July 13-21, 2006.
• “Iran, China and Central Asia in Medieval Times,” NEH Summer Institute for School Teachers, China and the Islamic World, sponsored by the China Institute of America and taking place at Columbia University, New York City, July 26, 2005.
• “Crossing Frontiers along Medieval Asia's Silk Roads,” presented at the Teaching of History Conference, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, September 14, 2002.

Invited International Research Conferences

• “The Culture of Frontier Victory: A Comparison of the Commanders of the Tang Northwestern Campaigns of 648, 655, and 657,” presented at the Officials on the Chinese Borders Colloquium, Academia Sinica, Taibei, Taiwan, October 2-4, 2006.
• “A Preliminary Study of the Demographic Structure of Sogdian Households at Turfan,” presented at conference on Sogdians in China: New Research in History, Archaeology, and Philology, Chinese National Library, Beijing, April 22-25, 2004.
• “Tang Military Culture and its Inner Asian Influences,” presented at the Military Culture in Imperial Chinese History Conference, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, January 11, 2003.
• "The Silver Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian Coins Found at Turfan: Their Relationship to International Trade and the Local Economy," presented at the Third Silk Road Conference, Yale University, July 12, 1998.  {Abstract}

Invited Lectures

• “Power through Patronage: Interethnic Political Networking in Tang China,” Institute for Advanced Study, East Asian Studies Seminar, December 11, 2007.
• “Tang China's Northern Borderlands: Historical and Ecological Perspectives on Interactions with Inner Asia,” Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, Lunchtime Colloquia Series, November 12, 2007.
• “Tang China's Northern Borderlands: Historical and Ecological Perspectives on Interactions with Inner Asia,” Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, May 24, 2007.
• “Silver, Silk, and Sogdians: The Silk Road in Asia from the Fifth to the Eighth Century,” Phi Alpha Theta Annual Lecture, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, November 19, 1998.
• “China and Tibet Vie for Control of the Western Himalayas: A Chapter in the Eighth Century Struggle for Inner Asia,” presented at the University of Michigan, Center for Chinese Studies Brown Bag Lecture Series, November 22, 1994.

Professional Meetings and Conferences

• “Politics of the Fictive Family: Tang Surname Bestowal, Fosterage and Adoption,” presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Honolulu, April 1, 2011.
• “Sui-Tang and Türk Propaganda Wars: A Case Study of the Circulation of Ideas in Medieval Eastern Eurasia,” presented at Global Asias Conference, Pennsylvania State University, October 23, 2009.
• “Sui-Tang Diplomatic Protocol as Eurasian Ritual,” presented at T'ang Studies: The Next Twenty-five Years, University of Albany, Albany, NY, May 8, 2009.
• “Heavenly Qaghans, Propaganda Wars, and the Origins of Simultaneous Kingship in Eastern Eurasia,” presented at the 12th Annual Southeast Early China Roundtable Conference, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, November 16, 2008.
• “Steppe-Sown Borderlands as Avenues of Eurasian Cultural Exchange: The Case of China and Mongolia (4th-8th centuries),” presented at Andre Gunder Frank's Legacy of Critical Social Science, University of Pittsburgh, April 13, 2008.
• “Tang Dynasty (618-907) China's Northern Borderlands: Evidence from the Horse System,” presented at the American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship Conference, Philadelphia, May 19, 2007.“Sogdian Settlers and Merchants at Tang Dynasty Turfan (7th-8th Centuries): A Documentary Tour,” presented at the Asian Merchant Cultures Conference, Hofstra University, March 10, 2006.
• "Loyalties Divided: The Question of Ethnicity in the Tang-Türgish Conflict of 708-9," presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Washington, April 6, 2002.
• "Altered Loyalties and Identities on the Sui and Tang Frontier (7th and 8th Centuries)," presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, January 5, 2002. {Abstract}
• "The Sogdian Trade Diaspora in East Turkestan during the Seventh and Eighth Centuries According to Chinese Sources," presented at the 36th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies, Montreal, August 29, 2000. {Abstract}
• "Barbarians at the Gates? The Tang Frontier Military and the An Lushan Rebellion," presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Boston, March 11, 1999.
• "Nomadic Rule of Turkestan's Oases in the Sixth through Eighth Centuries," presented at the Fifth Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Indiana University, February 21, 1998.  {Abstract}
• "With Bridle, Reins and Halter: Tang Attempts to Locally Administer the Nomadic Tribes on its Northwestern Frontier during the Reign of Xuanzong (712-56)," presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting on March 15, 1997.
• "Issues in Traditional Chinese Historiography: The Rise of Islam According to Official Tang History," presented at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, October 24, 1992.

Colloquia Presentations

• Co-presenter with Richard Abels of U.S. Naval Academy, “Conceptualizing Culture with Attention to the Patron-Client Relationship in Early Medieval Europe and China,” Institute for Advanced Study, Medieval Table Colloquium, October 17, 2007.
• “What's New on the Chinese Frontier?” Shippensburg University History/Philosophy Department Faculty Research Seminar, October 10, 2002.
• “The Tang Military on the Northwestern Frontier,” presented to the University of Michigan Military Studies Group on February 28, 1997.

PANEL COMMENTATOR

• Legitimating Power and Constructing Identity: Cultural Crossovers in Mortuary Art in Sixth Century Northern China Workshop, Fairbanks Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, October 29, 2011.
• “Textiles in this World: Taxes, the Military, Government Spending,” Textiles as Money Workshop, Yale University, October 3, 2009.

PANEL CHAIR

• “The Southwest,” Officials on the Chinese Borders Colloquium, Academia Sinica, Taibei, Taiwan, October 3, 2006.

EXTERNAL GRANT

• Fulbright Visiting Specialists Program: Direct Access to the Muslim World. Author on behalf of the International Studies Program to bring an Egyptian scholar, Dr. Omaima Abou-Bakr, to campus, Oct. 30-Nov. 17, 2006.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Professor of History, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Shippensburg, PA, Fall 2010-. Responsible for teaching courses in Chinese, Japanese and world history.
• Director of International Studies, May 2004-Dec. 2006, May 2010-present.
• Associate Professor of History, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, 2004 to 2010.
• Assistant Professor of History, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, 1999 to 2004.
• Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, 1998-99. Taught courses in modern Chinese, Japanese, and world history.
• Visiting Instructor in History, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI, Winter and Spring Quarters 1997. Taught courses in East Asian Civilization and modern China.
• ESL Specialist, Roxbury Community College, Workers' Educational Assistance Center, Boston, MA, 1989-90. Taught English to displaced Chinese factory workers with low literacy in their native languages. Developed model curriculum for the U. S. Department of Education to aid in the retraining of factory workers with low English proficiency.
• Instructor, Cardinal Cushing Center, Boston, MA, 1986-1989. Responsible for teaching all levels of English to adult Hispanics.
• Foreign Expert, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China 1985-86. Taught oral English to freshman and sophomore students. Lectured to staff on teaching methodology and to students on cross-cultural relations.
• Foreign Teacher, Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, Shanghai, China, 1984-85. Taught oral and written English to teachers and students. Lectured to students on American life.
• Tutor, Center for Language and Orientation Programs, Boston University, 1983-84. Acted as oral language instructor to groups of six to eight foreign students.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE (Selected)

• Funding proposal evaluator, American Philosophical Society, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sabbatical Fellowship, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010 grant cycles
• Preliminary exam committee external member, University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Anthropology-Field Museum of Natural History, Joint Ph.D. Program, Rory Dennison, Northwest China Archaeology, 2009
• Peer reviewer, Asia Major, 2008
• Review board member, Dictionary of World History. Ross E. Dunn, General Editor. Greenwood Publishing Group (forthcoming).
• Panel organizer, “Cracking the Barbarian Mold: Shifting Identities on Imperial China's Northern Frontier,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 2002.
• Publication organizer, special journal issue, “Civil Military Relations in Imperial China,” War and Society 18, no. 2 (2000).

LANGUAGES

Research proficiency:

• Modern and Classical Chinese
• Classical Arabic
• Numismatic Middle Iranian
• Japanese
• French

Speaking proficiency:

• Modern Chinese
   
   
  
  

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