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April 14, 2006
ANDOVER, Mass. — Jonathan Spence, a British-born historian who is recognized as one of the foremost scholars of Chinese civilization from the 17th century to the present, is slated to speak at Phillips Academy on Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m. on the topic of China’s growing importance in the modern world and how its role as an emerging superpower is shaped by its past history.
The talk, titled “China Now: The Burdens of the Past,” will be held in Kemper Auditorium in the Elson Arts Center on the Phillips Academy campus. The talk will include a Q&A session with the audience and will be followed by a reception and book signing. The event is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
The Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, Spence has written numerous books on China and Chinese history, including the critically acclaimed The Search for Modern China, which has become one of the standard texts on the last several hundred years of Chinese history. In June 2001, he was made a Companion of the Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, an honor given by the Queen of England for outstanding achievement.
Spence’s campus visit is part of the 2006 Andover Symposium: The Challenges of Globalization. The purpose of the year-long symposium is to bring to campus distinguished experts who can speak to students about globalization, global citizenship, and the daunting political, social, and economic challenges that face the world community. This effort, explains Andover history instructor Derek Williams, is intrinsic to the Academy’s mission to nourish within its students a commitment to world affairs and a sense of public service.
Toward that end, the school brought to campus earlier this year Sarah Chayes, a former National Public Radio (NPR) reporter who quit her job to help with rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan; Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, who headed up the U.S. coalition government in Iraq from 2003 to 2004; and Mike Shuster, a diplomatic correspondent and roving foreign correspondent for NPR who spoke on issues surrounding nuclear proliferation.
Two other speakers slated to visit the campus later in the year are Amy Chua, professor at Yale University Law School and author of World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (Sept. 27); and Jared Diamond, UCLA professor and author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Oct. 20).
Spence comes to Andover as the Alfred E. Stearns lecturer. The Alfred E. Stearns Lectureship honors the Academy's nineth head of school It was established in 1926 by Al Stearns' fellow trustee and classmate Thomas Cochran. They were both member of the Class of 1890. |
