It's Oct 2, and it's kinda like the first time ever that I got to speak to my supervisor 1 on 1 in an unhurried manner for an hour. I shouldn't complain; I am taking a directed studies/reading course with him and Nila, the other new grad student who stays in SJC (like me) and works on modern Southeast Asian history (Indonesia) and said that we can share the same desk at CSEAR. But for that, I meet with them once every two weeks, and the readings are really intense and not so much what I am most interested in (then again, I shouldn't complain because we read 'foundational text' in SEA history, the closest thing ever to my field in terms of courses I will take at UBC).
Anyway, the meeting went really well. He helped me with brainstorming ideas for my historiography paper, and I manage to frame my approach better: the social turn (EP Thompson) or Hayden White's 4 types of emplotment, or even Said's Orientalism. We spoke about my particular research interest and field of study, which was Malaysia, a welcome change from an Indonesia-heavy or rather general/big picture view of SEA. So I'm happy about today, just wished I could have more sessions like this with him (I guess I should be proactive and email him, as opposed to trying to read between the lines and think if what I said last time made him think I am being annoying or whatever).
Academically, I kinda joined the China history cluster? It works together with the Department of Asian Studies, and I met Chris Rea (Prof) during the 1st meeting. We heard a PhD student present a paper she was gonna present at RMMLA conference, so a field I had no clue about. But still it was fun, getting to know Leo Shin (Prof) in a more intimate setting, and sitting down with other likeminded people (like Sarah and Justin and Niping and Ryan Sun)
Readings-wise, there is the directed studies that I'm doing, but also the dry mandatoryy historiography class. We read and discuss Said's Orientalism tomorrow, which changed History as a field dramatically but reading him in 2018 is really dated. Like of course it's not good to paint the Orient as exotic and backward while using Europe as the center of all things. I am overly generalizing here of course, but yeah. Previously we've read Hayden White, Foucault's History of Sexuality, EP Thompson, and next week we are tackling Joan Scott (who is visiting Vancouver too) and later Chakrabarty's Provincializing Europe. Fun stuff. I kinda wish we could read less dry stuff though, but the part 2 of the course isn't any better? We read really environmental/CA indig history or even trans-identity history, fields I have never encountered before and which I personally am resisting (but alas I must acquiesce else I do poorly in the course) since I am 'stuck' in the mode of political history from the bottom-up, i.e. I'm like a Southeast Asianist EP Thompson with elements of Foucault and Said, and I'm still living in a historiographical world of before Y2K. (no not really, I am kidding).
Social life-wise, I went on a kind of date? So she was looking for people to check out a movie with as part of VIFF, and I said sure why not. Thus I met up with her at her workplace (vgh), picked a place to eat (she liked that coz she didn't like picking restaurants), had Thai food with her besides cocktails, then walked around for a bit (venturing into an adult store) before settling in for the movie. Earlier that day I had joined her and 2 other guys in some physical activity, and the vibe was as good then as it was when we went out at night. It was raining so we shared an umbrella (mine). She liked how I knew the direction to all the places we were walking around. The movie was OK-ish, thought-provoking and really VIFF-like coz it's a 4-part TV series made for Swiss TV in French language with English subtitles. I had a fun time, being able to say stuff like, "I feel like it's the guy who shud be the one who plan things and know directions". We also checked out St. Paul's hospital together, and I learnt that nothing scares her. She is also really close to her 2 younger male cousins, probably coz she doesn't have any siblings. All in all, I had a good time (I hope she did too!) and we hugged goodbye at the end of the night.
I also quite like teaching, more so than studying historiographical works. It can be tiring/un-interesting like this week when we were reading a certain someone's economic history of the British Empire (one student outright told me he found the author "boring"), but for the most part, I like the pedagogical nature of the university. My supervisor helped me with book selection for my essay due in early November, while I helped my students with book selection for their comparative book review essays due mid to late November. The way knowledge gets past down from one level to another level really interests me, and I can start seeing it now more than ever (upon reflection).
Now I must complete Said's work, but first a few words on my past few days. The conference at NYCAS was amazing, got to meet cool people and network in a way. I tried yoga on Sunday, which was not too bad actually! I was reminded of my experience in South India some 6 years ago now. I also went swimming a 2nd time this morning at 6.15 with the same group, though I admit that I have to find a way to not be exhausted to the point of taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon, even though I have Tuesdays off completely. I went to a ballroom dancing class last Thursday and had fun. Today I also went to a REX mentor-training/orientation event, where I learnt how to mentor mentees for MURC/CUJR. I'm doubtful people will pick me as a mentor since I'm a new grad student, but if it happens, I'll commit to it I guess.
Last week I also went to hear an IDRC expert speak about the future of work in SEA. It was very policy-driven, which reminds me of how the field of SEA history was very pol ec based until (very necessary) interventions by Ann Stoler and the cultural/social historians who focused on identity questions (which is more in line with what I'm interested in). I also met Elvin Ong and Kai more informally, as I had lunch with them at CSEAR with Nila and Vanessa. I accepted a RA job with Kai, my first proper RA work I guess? It's about local elections in Malaysia.
I have also been keeping up with Mahathir's 'international' tour and speeches, like the one at the UNGA, the Oxford Center for Islamic studies etc. I'm keeping a tab on his positions, but again I am happy to be studying history as I don't have to filter through news updates and analyzes when writing up something. The beauty of studying history. Hayden White said that (in chapter 1) history used to be the mediator between the arts and science, but no more. I think it is coming back to that in a way, though maybe leaning more of the Arts again. Like my supervisor brought up Orwell's To Kill an elephant, a short story that I read after and found so much to comment on. Back in Toronto, Eric Jennings assigned Things Fall Apart, about Nigerian society in precolonial times ft. Okonkwo; Dumb Luck by a Vietnamese guy in the 1920s; M. Duras The Sea Wall (later, The Lover) etc. So we can see that people do use literature in their writings of history, even Ann Stoler too. Makes me feel a little bad that I said no to a student who wanted to read Jane Eyre for her assignment, but then again, the prof said no lit so I stuck to that.
Going back to teaching, I was happy to have had the ability to give a mini-lecture on the Treaty of Nanjing 1842 and talk about HK, Kowloon, New Territories (1898) and geo-political strategies during the late 19th century. I extended the ideas set out in the 'boring' reading for the week, and at dinner tonight I got to speak to Nathaniel Lim (a PhD student in the Sciences from Malaysia) about Japanese and Chinese Canadian experiences during wartime [it came up as we were talking about Steveston, a beautiful place that apparently has a lot of Japanese-Canadians?] It was a nice feeling of home, 'beh tahan' the fact that he had to take IELTS as he got Band 6 for MUET (an English exam during STPM, or grade 13 in Malaysia).
Anyways, I'm back to reading before I crash. Hopefully I can say something smart on the discussion board for Said this week. And tomorrow I have to talk about Malaysian historiography with the course instructor (3pm) for the paper, then I'll try to listen to Steve talk (4.30pm) about his research at the HSA Tea Party, then Helen Siu's talk about HK (6pm reception, 7pm talk), and maybe MUNSA (5.30pm) to see the mun scene in UBC, and probably join the dance class (6pm) again, for ballroom, this time intermediate? Busy Wednesday, just like my busy Thursday last week. But I guess that is grad life. I wonder how people find time to date/ sustain a relationship? Maybe it's just a weekend thing, because so far I try not to do work on weekends. Let's see if I can keep doing that this month of October. Peaceeeee
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