Alumna Talk: The "Date Debate": Northeastern Scholars and China's New World War II Timeline
Friday, October 20, 2023 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
James Blair Hall, Room 229
Emily Matson '12 (PhD UVA ‘20) returns to William & Mary to give a talk about the politics and geopolitics of history writing related to the War of Resistance against Japan (China's World War II). Prof. Matson discusses the origins and implications of a recent change in the official timeline of the war, which moved its start date from 1937 back to 1931. What are the historical and political implications of redefining the war to cover a broader sequence of events? And why now? This research considers how history is written (and rewritten) through a complex interplay between state and society, and domestic and international contexts.
This event is sponsored by the Reves Center for International Studies.
Bio: Emily Matson is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Georgetown University with a joint appointment in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Asian Studies Program and the College of Arts and Sciences History Department. She is a former Wilson Center China fellow and received her doctorate in modern Chinese history from the University of Virginia. Emily's research interests include World War II, Sino-Japanese relations, public history, and historical memory. She has taught a variety of courses on East Asian history, most recently at American University and William & Mary.