In On Their Own Terms, Benjamin A. Elman offers a much-needed synthesis of early Chinese science during the Jesuit period (1600-1800) and the modern sciences as they evolved in China under Protestant influence (1840s-1900). By 1600 Europe was ahead of Asia in producing basic machines, such as clocks, levers, and pulleys, that would be necessary for the mechanization of agriculture and industry. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Elman shows, Europeans still sought from the Chinese their secrets of producing silk, fine textiles, and porcelain, as well as large-scale tea cultivation. Chinese literati borrowed in turn new algebraic notations of Hindu-Arabic origin, Tychonic cosmology, Euclidian geometry, and various computational advances. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, imperial reformers, early Republicans, Guomindang party cadres, and Chinese Communists have all prioritized science and technology. In this book, Elman gives a nuanced account of the ways in which native Chinese science evolved over four centuries, under the influence of both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. In the end, he argues, the Chinese produced modern science on their own terms.

Offers a new reading of the history of the colonization of North America and the dispossession of its indigenous peoples.

Introduction: Complex legacies : materiality, memory, and myth in the Arabian Peninsula / Ileana Baird -- Frankincense and its Arabian burner / William Gerard Zimmerle -- The tyranny of the pearl : desire, oppression, and nostalgia in the Lower Gulf / Victoria Hightower -- Palm dates, power, and politics in pre-oil Kuwait / Eran Segal -- Circulating things, circulating stereotypes : representations of Arabia in eighteenth-century imagination / Ileana Baird -- "Who will change old lamps for new ones?" : Aladdin and his wonderful lamp in British and American children's entertainment / Jennie MacDonald -- Creative cartography : from the Arabian Desert to the garden of Allah / Holly Edwards -- Kinetic symbol : falconry as image vehicle in the United Arab Emirates / Yannis Hadjinicolaou -- Al-Sadu weaving : significance and circulation in the Arabian Gulf / Rana Al-Ogayyel and Ceyda Oskay -- Head coverings, Arab identity, and new materialism / Joseph Donica -- Written in silver : protective medallions from inner Oman / James Redman -- From cradle to grave : a life story in jewelry / Marie-Claire Bakker and Kara McKeown -- Cine-things : the revival of the Emirati past in Nojoom Alghanem's cinemascape / Chrysavgi Papagianni -- Afterword: All things collected / Hülya Yağcıoğlu.

From a MacArthur "Genius," a bold new perspective on the history of Asia, highlighting the long quest to tame its waters Asia's history has been shaped by her waters. In Unruly Waters, historian Sunil Amrith reimagines Asia's history through the stories of its rains, rivers, coasts, and seas -- and of the weather-watchers and engineers, mapmakers and farmers who have sought to control them. Looking out from India, he shows how dreams and fears of water shaped visions of political independence and economic development, provoked efforts to reshape nature through dams and pumps, and unleashed powerful tensions within and between nations. Today, Asian nations are racing to construct hundreds of dams in the Himalayas, with dire environmental impacts; hundreds of millions crowd into coastal cities threatened by cyclones and storm surges. In an age of climate change, Unruly Waters is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Asia's past and its future.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, An Introduction to Global Studies presents readers with a solid introduction to the complex, interconnected forces and issues confronting today's globalized world. Introduces readers to major theories, key terms, concepts, and notable theorists Equips readers with the basic knowledge and conceptual tools necessary for thinking critically about the complex issues facing the global community Includes a variety of supplemental features to facilitate learning and enhance readers' understanding of the material