Research
Some of her selected research projects.
Rebelling at the Front: Transforming the Sino-Tibetan Borderland in the Late Qing Period
Sep 2020 - Jun 2021
This thesis project draws from a number of primary sources that Sharon collected from the Kham area, ranging from French/British missionary accounts, local gazetteers, imperial decrees, and Qing literature. Overall, it argues that the emergence of French missionaries had threatened the authority of the native ruling class on the Sino-Tibetan frontier, a source of worry for the dominating lamas. In 1905, the Qing state’s attempt to reinforce its borderland management further reduced the rights once enjoyed by the monasteries, giving rise to the outbreak of the Tibetan Rebellion. Prior to the riots, frontier provinces had enhanced its military and economic capacity as a result of rapid reforms in the late Qing period. This presaged the Qing army’s success in the 1905 war. Post-war reconstruction took place shortly after the suppression, allowing the Qing to not only strengthen its power over the Sino-Tibetan borderland, but also extend its influence in Central Tibet. In all, the 1905 Tibetan Rebellion acted as the turning point of Sino-Tibetan frontier politics as well as the Sino-Tibetan relationship. While the traditional ruling class declined in influence, missionaries and Qing officials proceeded to become new expressions of authority in the region until the Qing’s final collapse.
Do Guns Kill People, or Do People Kill People?
Mar 2021 - Jun 2021
This is an anthropological inquiry into a classic ethical question: is it the guns that kill people, or is it the people that kill people? This paper builds from the theory of Bruno Latour and draws extensively from existing ethnographies. It argues that people and technology as a composite entity co-participates in the “killing of people” and bringing broader social effects. On the one hand, technologies as products of the broader contexts are shaped by human intentions when people attach particular socio-cultural meanings to them prior to their professed uses. On the other hand, technologies act on people as they create the material conditions that reshape people and the society as a whole. Nevertheless, we should be cautious that while human and technology act together in bringing social impacts, the deep roots of such long-lasting problems as gun violence lie in the wider socio-cultural conditions. By thinking the human-technological agency in culturally specific ways, we might be able to figure out conditions of possibilities that give rise to its real-life consequences before subverting them.
Chinese Tea in the 18th-Century England: A Necessary Luxury
Jan 2020 - Mar 2020
This project draws primarily from accounts of the British East India Company and the 18th-century British artworks to construe the social, economic and cultural role of Chinese tea in the 18th century England. It argues that, gradually, Chinese tea was moving from the category of "luxury" towards "necessity," but ended up with straddling somewhere between the two. On one hand, it remained as an upper-class fashion as well as a relatively expensive tea drink. On the other hand, it steadily became desired and consumed by all English nationals. Notably, such a "self-contradictory" nature had eventually led to significant changes in both the Chinese and British politics.
Chapter Review: "Bangladesh: One Genocide, One Coup and One Assassination" in The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
Jan 2020 - Mar 2020
This review essay not only analyzes the evidence Hitchens cites, but also draws extensively from both primary and secondary sources to cross-reference Hitchens’s accusations. In fact, a careful investigation of Hitchens’s account shows that while Kissinger’s policies towards Bangladesh may represent foreign policies that undervalue humanitarian concerns, they do not necessarily constitute commitment of crimes. Hitchens’s account undeniably fuels the expansion of universal jurisdiction; nonetheless readers must be cautious that his prosecutions may be politically motivated and thus exaggerated when interpreting the facts.