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About A. Taeko Brooks

A Taeko Brooks received her MA in history from the University of Hawaii, and did subsequent graduate work in history at the University of Washington. She has been Research Associate in the Warring States Project since its formal inception in 1993. She is a member of the Association for Asian Studies and the American Historical Association, and is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Women, and Who’s Who in the World.
Her work centers on the Chinese classical period, the 05th through 03rd centuries (the “Warring States” period of Chinese history) and on Spring And Autumn, the 08th through 06th centuries, which by contrast define the nature of the bureaucratic and military revolution which took place in the Warring States period. That revolution eventually made possible the creation of the unified Chinese Empire in 0221.
She is interested in historical method, including quantitative stylistics; in the formation and historiography of the classical Chinese texts; and in the large movements of military and intellectual history in pre-Imperial times. The latter include the rise and decline of the Micians (the classical Chinese peace movement) , the ritualization of the Confucians, and the development of meditation as a third way of knowledge, in rivalry with the other two, and with the dominant practical statecraft of the period, usually called Legalism. She is particularly interested in populism, the failed but significant effort of certain elite groups to define the state not as the expression of the will of the ruler, but as a mechanism for serving the interests of the people.

Positions

Present Lecturer, Warring States Project, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Present Treasurer, Warring States Project, University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Disciplines


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Contact Information

Warring States Project
39 Hillside Road
Northampton MA 01060
Tel:413-584-1810

Email:


Confucianism (8)

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