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MEDIA ADVISORY
Smith College Faculty Experts on China, its Culture, Politics and History
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.—By the time the torch lights the flame next Aug. 8 at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games, host city Beijing will have long been inured to an intense media spotlight.
The astounding economic growth of China—particularly its capital city—and its new transportation systems, coupled with the country’s controversial policies regarding environmental protection and its investments in Sudan are all topics that have drawn widespread media attention, both positive and negative, since the International Olympic Committee named Beijing the host city for the upcoming games.
Smith College faculty experts in a variety of fields are available to answer questions about the history, culture and politics of the world’s most populous country and one of the most scrutinized.
DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICY
Steven M. Goldstein served as a CNN commentator in Beijing during the Tiananmen demonstrations, and as a PBS commentator on the series “The Chinese.” His research focuses on Chinese domestic and foreign policy. He has served on the editorial boards of The China Quarterly and the Journal of Contemporary China and has written extensively about the Chinese Communist view of world affairs.
Steven Goldstein, the Sophia Smith Professor of Government
sgoldste@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3537
ECONOMIC TIES TO SUDAN
Eric Reeves has been widely critical of China’s investment in Sudan’s oil industry. He has spent the past eight years working full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, and he has testified several times before the Congress, has lectured widely, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan.
Eric Reeves, professor of English language and literature
ereeves@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3326
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH, MEDICINE AND HEALTH POLICY
Reports of dramatic environmental destruction resulting from China’s rapid economic development and large population have incited global alarm. Suzanne Z. Gottschang can talk about the human challenge to environmental health in China as well as women, health, policy and social and economic change. Gottschang has served as a visiting scholar at China’s Academy of Preventative Medicine.
Suzanne Z. Gottschang, associate professor of anthropology
szhang@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3544
ASIAN ART
Marilyn Rhie teaches a variety of courses in Asian art history. Her research work is primarily in Chinese, Central Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist art.
Marilyn Rhie, Jessie Wells Post Professor of Art and Professor of East Asian Studies
mrhie@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3138
LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
A specialist in 20th century Chinese fiction and Chinese philosophy, Deirdre Sabina Knight has written about how literary narratives reproduce or challenge paradigms surrounding such issues as health, illness and dying. Knight has studied in Beijing and is a research associate at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University.
Deirdre Sabina Knight, assistant professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures
dsknight@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3548
NATIONAL IDENTITIES - CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA
Jina Kim has examined the struggles of China, Japan and Korea to establish national identities.
Jina Kim, lecturer of East Asian Studies
jkim@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3306
CONFUCIAN TRADITION
Daniel K. Gardner specializes in the cultural history of pre-modern China. He can explain the emergence of China and creation of a centralized empire, the disappearance of hereditary aristocracy and rise of the scholar-official class.
Daniel K. Gardner, the Dwight W. Morrow Professor
dgardner@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-3718
ABOUT SMITH COLLEGE
Smith College educates women of promise for lives of distinction. By linking the power of the liberal arts to excellence in research and scholarship, Smith is developing leaders for society’s challenges. Smith is the largest undergraduate women’s college in the country, enrolling 2,800 students from nearly every state and 61 countries.
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Office of College
Relations
Smith College
Garrison Hall
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 |
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Kristen Cole
Media Relations Director
T (413) 585-2190
F (413) 585-2174
kacole@email.smith.edu
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