Nathan Vedal, an assistant professor in the Department of East Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded the 2023 Morris D. Forkosch Prize for his book The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge, by the Journal of the History of Ideas.
The annual award recognizes the best first book by a single author on intellectual history, in one or more of the disciplines associated with intellectual history and the history of ideas broadly conceived, including visual history, philosophy, political thought, the social sciences and literature.
“It is tremendously gratifying for my work to be recognized in this way,” said Vedal. “Previous recipients of this award have been deeply inspiring for my research, and I am honoured for my book to appear alongside theirs.”
We are proud that Nathan's work is truly transcending East Asian Studies — or to be more precise, showing that East Asian Studies has much to offer the established disciplines.
Documenting a major transformation in knowledge production that emerged in the scholarly culture of Ming Dynasty China (1368–1644), the book provides a framework for rethinking global early modern intellectual developments. It offers an alternative to the conventional understanding of Late Imperial Chinese intellectual history by focusing on the methods of scholarly practice and the shifting boundaries by which contemporary thinkers defined their field of study.
“Recent years have witnessed a close reexamination of the early modern history of Chinese philology, to which Vedal’s volume makes an extraordinary contribution. While studies of the Chinese language have blossomed in recent years, Vedal’s work stands out for its great breadth and depth, attending to a multitude of better- and lesser-known scholars, and the unexpected connections at play in their theories of language,” pronounced the judging committee in a statement.
Vedal’s research focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and literary history of Late Imperial China and early modern East Asia between roughly the 15th and 19th centuries. He applies approaches from book history and the history of science and the humanities to study the circulation of knowledge and books.
“The Journal of the History of Ideas is a long-established journal in the broad field of intellectual history, and we are proud that Nathan's work is truly transcending East Asian Studies,” said Department of East Asian Studies chair, Janet Poole. “Or to be more precise, showing that East Asian Studies has much to offer the established disciplines.”