Thursday 22 June, 2017 - Friday 23 June, 2017
Sainsbury Institute, 64 The Close, Norwich NR1 4DH
01603-597-507
Speakers
Dr Robert Hellyer
Dr Robert Fletcher
About the Symposium
The symposium will examine the influence and contributions of Westerners in nineteenth-century East Asia, with a focus on how personal correspondences can serve as historical sources. The two-day gathering will explore two Nagasaki-based British merchants, William Alt and Frederick Ringer (a native of Norwich), as well as Charles Richardson, a Shanghai-based merchant killed near Yokohama in 1862, an event that led to an armed clash between Britain and the Satsuma domain the following year. The symposium will also include papers on various merchants, missionaries, and diplomats in East and Southeast Asia, as well as perspectives on British maritime commerce during the nineteenth century.
The symposium is free to attend and open to students and scholars interested in the subject.
Registration is essential as seats are limited. Please contact the Sainsbury Institute to book your place on 01603 597 507 or email us.
Schedule
Day One: Thursday June 22
1-1:30 Greetings, Opening Remarks
Panel 1 | 1:30PM-3:30 European Merchants in Nineteenth-Century East Asia
Robert Hellyer (Wake Forest University, USA)
William Alt: What His Letters Tell Us About a Young British Merchant in China & Japan
Harald Fuess (Heidelberg University, Germany)
Dejima as the Gun Island of Nagasaki in the 1860s
Fukuoka Mariko (National Museum of Japanese History, Japan)
Casper Brennwald: Trading Activities of a Swiss Merchant in Nineteenth-century Asia, Europe & the United States
Victoria Manthorpe (Independent Scholar, Britain)
Frederick Ringer: King of Nagasaki
Discussant: Sherzod Muminov (Cambridge University, Britain)
3:45-4:00 Tea Break
Panel 2 | 4:00-5:30 C.L. Richardson and the Namamugi Incident
Robert Fletcher (University of Warwick, Britain)
The Road to Namamugi: the Shanghai Letters of Charles Lenox Richardson
Nakatake Kanami (Yokohama Archives of History, Japan)
The Namamugi Incident’s Influence on Foreign and Japanese Societies in Yokohama
Discussant: Nadine Willems (University of East Anglia, Britain)
Day Two Friday June 23
Panel 3 | 9:00AM-11:00AM British Imperial Contexts and Connections
Ranald Noel-Paton (Independent Scholar, Britain)
The Life of George Windsor Earl
Annette Bainbridge (Independent Scholar, New Zealand)
The Charlotte Jane: National Symbol and Global Reality
Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere (IFAC Handa Curator for Japanese Arts, British Museum, Britain)
Collecting Japan for Britain: Augustus Wollaston Franks’ Evolving Strategy for Acquiring Japanese Material Culture for the British Museum, 1860-80s
Discussant: Angus Lockyer (SOAS, Britain)
11:00-11:15 Tea Break
Panel 4 | 11:15-12:45 Diplomacy in China and Japan
Sano Mayuko (International Research Center for Japanese Studies/University of Nagasaki, Japan)
Disturbed by Merchants? Rutherford Alcock’s Eastern Diplomacy
Victoria Manthorpe (Independent Scholar, Britain)
“Thank God You Are English:” a Globetrotter’s Consular and Mercantile Contacts in Kobe at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century
Discussant: Simon Kaner (SISJAC and University of East Anglia, Britain)
Lunch break: 12:45-1:30
Panel 1:30-3:30 Westerners in Nineteenth-Century China
Song-Chuan Chen (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Who’s Afraid of a Chinese Ghost? European Merchants and Ancestor Worship in the Treaty Ports, 1845–1914
Shengfang Chou (University of Warwick, Britain)
Chinese as Fear: Images Produced by British Photographer John Thomson and His Illustrations of China and of Its People ca. 1870
Lars Laamann (SOAS, Britain)
John Nevius (1829–1893) – Propagating Christianity, Exorcising Demons
Discussant: Janet Hunter (LSE, Britain)
3:30-4:00 Tea Break
4:00-5:00 Concluding Remarks on Symposium & General Discussion
Hans van de Ven (Cambridge University, Britain), general comments
Symposium organised by Dr Robert Hellyer and Dr Robert Fletcher.
Supported by
Image: Photo of Nagasaki courtesy of Glover Garden in Nagasaki