Jon Thares Davidann Explained

Jon Thares Davidann is a U.S.-East Asian historian specializing in intellectual history. He is professor and Chair of Department of History, Humanities and International Studies at Hawai'i Pacific University.^[1]

Career

He began his career at Hawai'i Pacific University in 1997. He also served as the Director of Exchange and Study Abroad Programs at HPU for five years from 2007-2012. His residence in the multicultural milieu of Hawai'i and many travels to East Asia convinced him that traditional narratives of westernization were Eurocentric and mistaken.^[2]

As a result, in 2019, he published The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Create Modernity, 1860-1960, an extended critique of westernization.^[3] The work won the Kenneth Baldridge Prize in 2020.^[4]

Davidann published the essay "The Myth of Westernization" in Aeon Magazine in 2021.^[5]

Davidann has published six books and 30 articles and essays. He has served as a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University and as a Fulbright Specialist at Ghent University in Ghent, Belgium and is Affiliated Researcher there. He has given numerous keynote and invited lectures internationally.

He has served as guest Editor of the Journal of American-East Asian Relations.^[6]

Davidann hosts a video podcast, History Lens, that discusses current concerns such as impeachment, white supremacy, immigration, gun control, and taxes, and puts them in historical perspective.^[7]

Books

• A World of Crisis and Progress: The American YMCA in Japan, 1890-1930, 1998.
• Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century, edited by Jon Davidann, Richard Jensen, and Yone Sugita, 2003.^{[8] [9]}
• Cultural Diplomacy in U.S. - Japanese Relations, 1919-1941, 2007
• Hawai`i at the Crossroads of the U.S. and Japan before the Pacific War, edited by Jon Davidann, 2008.
• The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Create Modernity, 1860-1960, 2019.
• Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History, 1453-Present, 2019.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Jon Davidann . 2023-03-30 . www.hpu.edu.
2. Fujii . George . H-Diplo Roundtable XX-40 on The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Create Modernity, 1860-1960 . H-Diplo . 2019-05-27 . XX . 40 . 1024–1025 . 30 March 2023.
3. Kuo . Karen . Jon Thares Davidann. The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Create Modernity, 1860–1960 . American Historical Review . 2022 . 127 . 2 . 1024–1025 . 10.1093/ahr/rhab595 . 30 March 2023. free .
4. Web site: Featured Author . Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group . Routledge . 29 March 2023.
5. Web site: Davidann . Jon . The Myth of Westernization . Aeon . Aeon Magazine . 29 March 2023.
6. Matray . James . 2014 . Editorial . The Journal of American-East Asian Relations . 21 . 3 . 209–13 . JSTOR.
7. Web site: Fidell . Jay . What can we Learn from US Business Cycles to help us Deal with the Impact of Covid (History Lens) . 2023-03-30 . ThinkTech Hawaii . en-US.
8. Pye . Lucian . 2003 . Review of Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century, by R. Jensen, J. Davidann, & Y. Sugita . Foreign Affairs . 82 . 6 . 172–172 . JSTOR.
9. Phillips . Steve . 2004 . Review of Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century., by R. Jensen, J. Davidann, & Y. Sugita . The Journal of Asian Studies . 63 . 1 . 135–136 . JSTOR.