Hosted by Professor Naomi Standen, School of History and Cultures
1st October – 15th November 2018
Valerie Hansen has been professor of history at Yale since 1998. She has made major contributions to Silk Road studies (two books, two edited volumes and fifteen articles), distinguished by her emphasis on combining archaeological and textual evidence to investigate the lives of ordinary people, her attention to the Central Asian oases without which the ‘Silk Road’ as we understand it could not have existed, and her integration of the latest research by Chinese, Japanese and europhone scholars.
More recently, she has illuminated studies of the Liao dynasty (907-1125) in Northeast Asia through a conference, a resulting journal special issue, and a workshop to teach the Kitan language. In these ventures the Liao are understood largely in terms of their international context and relationships, and she is currently extending that approach to a wider field.
Hansen’s current book project – The Interconnected World of the Year 1000: The Beginnings of Globalization – explores the goods, people, and ideas that travelled between regions in a time with no mechanised transport.
Valerie will be giving a public lecture on globalisation during her fellowship and co-leading a research workshop with her host Prof Naomi Standen.
If you would like full details of the plans for Professor Hansen’s fellowship or would like to meet with her during her visit as an Institute of Advanced Studies Distinguished Visiting Fellow, please contact Sue Gilligan s.gilligan@bham.ac.uk.