Bio

I regard myself very much as a Sinologist in the traditional sense that doesn't fit present-day categories of specialisation like history or philosophy, language or literature. My research interests include traditional Chinese literature and poetry with an emphasis on the history of reception and commentary, Chinese archaeology and art, and excavated texts. Another area of my interest is the history of conceptual ideas, in particular those concerning human relations in and beyond the family in China's past and present. More recently I have begun to explore possibilities of how to meaningfully employ algorithms in the terminological examination of large text corpora and collections with multi-level texts. In the past I have offered a large variety of thematic courses ranging from early Chinese poetry to the question of how to write scholarly reviews. My current teaching portfolio at ANU includes Literary Chinese, Chinese Literature, Early Chinese Philosophy, and Culture.