The book 亚洲色吧淏lind in Early Modern Japan: Disability, Medicine, and Identity亚洲色吧� by Dr. Wei Yu Wayne Tan of the Hope College history faculty has received multiple awards for excellence from professional associations.
The book, published by the University of Michigan Press in 2022, covers the Edo Period (1600-1868) and examines how blind people in Japan were able to thrive, gaining power and respect in society, through prominence in a range of professions. It has won the American Historical Association亚洲色吧檚 for a book on Pre-1800 East Asian history; the from the Disability History Association; and Honorable Mention for the Presidents Book Award from the Social Science History Association.
The American Historical Association (AHA) offers annual prizes honoring exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history and historical projects, with more than 1,300 submissions for the nearly 40 different awards that the association is presenting this year. The Patricia Buckley Ebrey Prize recognizes a distinguished book in the history of China proper, Vietnam, Chinese Central Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea or Japan prior to 1800. It is named for an internationally respected historian of China who is a professor emerita at the University of Washington at Seattle.
In its announcement, the Disability History Association (DHA) noted that 亚洲色吧渢he depth and breadth of this year亚洲色吧檚 submissions, as well as the individual works, are a testament to the continued vitality of disability history and to its capacity for expanding the historical discipline more broadly.亚洲色吧� The DHA praised Tan亚洲色吧檚 book in particular as 亚洲色吧渁n impressive piece of scholarship亚洲色吧� that 亚洲色吧渞eveals new understandings of the relationships between medicine/systems of medicine and being blind, as well as how (a non-Western) religion contributed to the meaning and experience of being blind.亚洲色吧�
The presented by the Social Science History Association (SSHA) recognizes early-career scholars for the scholarly significance, interdisciplinary reach and methodological innovativeness of a first work that analyzes past structures and events, and change over time. The SSHA announced "Blind in Early Modern Japan's" selection for Honorable Mention and announced this year's winner during the organization's 49th annual conference, held in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 16-19, 2023.
Tan, an associate professor of history at Hope, wrote 亚洲色吧淏lind in Early Modern Japan亚洲色吧� to provide a new way of understanding not only disability but also history and culture.
亚洲色吧淚t亚洲色吧檚 a less traditional way of telling the history of a place,亚洲色吧� he said. 亚洲色吧淚t allows us to look not only into the institutional background of disability, but also to look at sources that tell us about everyday life and see how Japanese society functioned, and to include marginalized voices to tell a different side of history and to reexamine our assumptions about disability.亚洲色吧�
The book focuses especially on a guild of blind traveling musicians that also led a network of other guilds, in fields such as massage and acupuncture, that consisted of blind people. United through their strong guild structure, they were even able to monopolize some trades.
亚洲色吧淚n the United States and Europe, we don亚洲色吧檛 see this organization of blind people and blind professionals,亚洲色吧� Tan said. 亚洲色吧淲hile we tend to think of disability in negative terms, the historical narrative that I outline for Japan is more complex. There were blind people who worked within the system and gained some advantages for themselves, but also many others who were left out and even exploited.亚洲色吧�
The awards from the AHA and DHA aren亚洲色吧檛 the first acclaim that 亚洲色吧淏lind in Early Modern Japan亚洲色吧� has received 亚洲色吧� it previously earned praise from numerous reviewers. For example, 亚洲色吧淐hoice 360亚洲色吧� of the Association of College and Research Libraries featured the book in conjunction with its commemoration of July亚洲色吧檚 Disability Pride Month, summarizing it as 亚洲色吧渉ighly recommended亚洲色吧� and calling it an 亚洲色吧渋mportant contribution to disability studies.亚洲色吧� In its review, the journal Social History of Medicine said, 亚洲色吧淢ore than simply presenting Tokugawa Japan as a case study in the larger corpus of the history of disability, it encourages scholars to reconsider approaches to writing about blindness and visual impairment.亚洲色吧�
亚洲色吧淏lind in Early Modern Japan亚洲色吧� chronicles the beginning of a story that Tan has been exploring for more than a decade. He initially became interested in the topic during his first visit to Japan in 2009, when he noticed extensive infrastructure for people with visual impairments that included audio cues and tactile indicators at intersections for pedestrians.
Since the 2022 book亚洲色吧檚 publication, he has been conducting research for a new volume that will carry the story forward in time, beginning in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration that reestablished imperial rule and continuing through the end of World War II in 1945. 亚洲色吧淚亚洲色吧檓 interested in how disability from the early modern period became disability in modern Japan, with a focus on science and medicine as Japan started to form itself into a modern nation-state increasingly influenced by Europe and the United States,亚洲色吧� he said.
Tan has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2016, and was previously an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Dartmouth College. He has presented his past and current research at professional meetings, including the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on the Global Histories of Disability, the Association for Asian Studies, the American Historical Association and others. His publications cover historical topics about Japan and East Asia from the 17th century to the present, including disability in modern East Asia, and acupuncture and anatomy in East Asian medical thought. He teaches courses in world history, Japanese history, East Asian cultural history, Russian history, disability history/studies, pandemics and social history, and the history of science and medicine.
promotes historical work and the importance of historical thinking in public life. Incorporated by Congress in 1889, its mission to enhance the work of historians also encompasses professional standards and ethics, innovative scholarship and teaching, academic freedom and international collaboration. As the largest membership association of professional historians in the world (over 11,000 members), the AHA serves historians in a wide variety of professions, and represents every historical era and geographical area.
is an international non-profit organization that promotes the study of disabilities throughout history, including the history of individuals or groups with disabilities, perspectives on disability, representations/constructions of disability, policy and practice history, teaching, theory, and disability and related social and civil rights movements. Membership is open to scholars, institutions and organizations, and others working in all geographic regions and all time periods.
is an interdisciplinary coalition of distinctive scholarly communities which share interests in social life and theory, historiography, and historical and social-scientific methodologies, and includes scholars from history, economics, sociology, demography, anthropology and other social sciences.
(Story updated on Nov. 21, 2023, to include news of the SSHA recognition.)