Dagmar Schäfer How Does Local Knowledge Influence Broader Concepts and Structures of Information?
Professor Dagmar Schäfer is Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. Among other current positions, she holds guest Professorships at Tianjin University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She has previously been Head of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Manchester and Principal Investigator at the British Inter-University Center for Chinese Studies. Schäfer’s research focuses on the history and sociology of technology in China. Her book The Crafting of the 10,000 Things: Knowledge and Technology in Seventeenth Century China was awarded the Joseph Levenson prize in 2013. Schäfer was a 2020 recipient of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the most prestigious award of the German Research Foundation (DFB).
Area of Research
History
since 2019
Managing Director
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (more details)
since 2018
Guest Professor
Tianjin University
since 2016
Adjunct Professor
Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin)
Institute of Sinology
2016-2017
Guest Professor
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
School of History and Culture of Science
since 2015
Honorary Professor
Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin)
History of Science and Technology
since 2013
2012-2013
Head of Department of East Asian Studies
University of Manchester
2011-2015
Professor and Chair of Chinese Studies and History of Technology
University of Manchester
School for Arts and Languages
2011-2013
Director
Confucius Institute Manchester
2006-2011
Director
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (more details)
Independent Research Group “Concepts and Modalities: Practical Knowledge Transmission” (China, 10th–18th century)
2005-2005
Assistant Professor
University of Würzburg (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)
Department of Chinese Studies
2005
Habilitation
University of Würzburg (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)
Opus Eximium
1996
Ph.D. Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, Political Science
University of Würzburg (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)
Opus Eximium
1993
M.A. Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, Political Science
University of Würzburg (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)
Summa Cum Laude
- Transfers. Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies
- Journal of Chinese History
- Journal for East Asian Science, Technology, Medicine
Prizes
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize - German Research Foundation (2020)
- Joseph Levenson Book Prize, Association for Asian Studies (2013)
- Pfizer Award, History of Science Society (2012)
- Award for Excellent and Outstanding International Research, Ruchti-Stiftung (2006)
Fellowships
- Residential Scholarship, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (2019)
- DFG Grant, Dept. of Sinology, University of Würzburg (2001-2004)
- Academia Sinica P.R. China, Beijing (2002)
- DFG Research Grant Taiwan, National Tsing Hua University (2002)
Institute
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Founded in 1994, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin is one of more than 80 research institutes administered by the Max Planck Society. The Institute is dedicated to the study of the history of science, aiming to understand scientific thinking and practice as historical phenomena from a variety of methodological and interdisciplinary perspectives. Our research draws on the reflective potential of the history of science to address current challenges in scientific scholarship, exploring the changing meaning of fundamental scientific concepts as well as how cultural developments shape scientific practices. The Institute’s projects span all eras of human history and a multitude of cultures globally, ranging from the origins of continuity systems in Mesopotamia to present-day science in China, Renaissance natural history, and the past of quantum mechanics. The Institute also draws on the reflective potential of the history of science to address current challenges in scientific scholarship.
Map
Chinese local gazetteers have been recording local information since the 7th Century and the corpus of texts that they have produced provides an important resource for scholars. In this video, DAGMAR SCHÄFER explores the broader influence of the local gazetteers’ treatment of disasters. Employing digital humanities and the LoGaRT tool, which enables qualitative evaluation of quantitative data, one important case study for Schäfer is a disaster that struck Mulberry plantations in the Yuan dynasty (13th Century). Though the disaster affected north and south China, Schäfer explains how historical-political manipulation led to records of it only appearing in northern texts. The research examines the interplay between the types of local knowledge recorded by the local gazetteers and broader structures of knowledge and information.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10852
What is Local Knowledge? Digital Humanities and Yuan Dynasty Disasters in Imperial China's Local Gazetteers
- Dagmar Schäfer, Shih-pei Chen and Qun Che
- Journal of Chinese History
- Published in 2020
