From “The Trust Of The People” to “Obeying Your Elders”:
Colonial-era Transformations in Elite Confucian Thought

Friday February 10
History Library HMNSS 1303
3pm – 430pm

Using evidence from the policy questions and responses on the Palace Examinations, as well as textbooks and educational policy manuals from the post-civil service examination era, this talk will trace how the nineteenth century classical canon–a diverse set of philosophical, political, poetic, and geomantic texts–was gradually narrowed in secondary educational curriculums into twentieth century Confucianism, which focused more narrowly on questions of moral upbringing and filial piety.

Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox is Professor of History and Non-Western Cultures at Western Connecticut State University. He is the author ofAllegories of the Vietnamese Past (2011), and the editor of Vietnam and the West: New Approaches (2010).

** students are VERY welcome and encouraged to attend**