Pursuing My Ph. D at Columbia University

Application for a Ph. D at Columbia University

Dear Professor,

I have successfully got my Master degree in Peking University in July this year, and now I want to pursue my Ph.D in Columbia. So I write to you, and I wonder to know: do you want to guide a Chinese student?

When I was at Monticello as an ICJS fellow in early this year, I was perplexed by American historians and American culture there. At that time, I had several warm talks with UVa Ph.D candidates, professor Peter Onuf, and other senior historians of TJMF there, then I realized that historiography and historical study were separated(UVa graduate students tend to do case studies), which, to me, was really a great surprise.

As you may know, since 1970s, there're lots of disputations about Jefferson-Hemings scandal. Adair, Chase-Riboud, Brodie, Malone, Dabney, Onuf, Ellis, Burnstein and other Jefferson biographers and experts have done a lot studies about this issue, which make us know more about Jefferson's image. To be honest, I appreciate their efforts in helping me to understand American history and culture. However, the more historians discuss about it, the more complex the controversy is, and the more obscure Jefferson's image is.  Even Foster have done DNA test and published his report in Nature, it seems that you are still not sure about that history.

For American historians, they try their best to explain it, however, it seems that the noble dream has gone and history has been crooked.  Comparing with American historians, I myself can not persuade you my own points of view about it. However, the scandal offers me a good lens to see American history and culture. Therefore, my purpose is to trace historical writing and to examine and reflect how historical writing crooked, and try to learn something from it.

As you know, Adair, Malone, Ellis, Onuf, Burnstein are famous Jefferson experts, Brodie, Chase-Riboud are excellent Jefferson biographers, however, even on ths same issue, their conclusions are so various, which attract me a lot. As a Chinese student, I may not authoritative on this issue, however, I have no cultural burden. That's to say, I am not worry about my cultural identity and political ideology.

Two years ago, Professor Wang Xi opened a course called "Race and American Constitution" in Peking University, at that time, we discussed your work frequently, and I appreciated your own ideas very much. Since that, I worked on republican revisionism, then I knew more about you contribution in helping us to understand revolutionary and Civil War and Reconstruction ideologies. Although I am not your student, I have to admit that I myself has been directly or indirectly influenced by your work.

Now it seems that I have a good chance to work with you, although I know the application will be very competitive, I have to have a try and find a way for myself. If I can offer a chance to go on my further education in Columbia, that will be wonderful! I'd like to work on Jefferson-Heming scandal firstly, then I will focus my interest on revolutionary ideologies and try to do some case studies.

Dear Professor, if you are interested in my topic, please let me know, then we can go on our further discussion about it.

By the way, my Master Degree paper is "Between Revival and Beyond: Republican Revisionism and the Contested Canons in American Intellectual History," in which I discussed the status of this school, and reflected its rise and fall in American Historiography. I also examined how it contested with Lockean, Beardian and Liberal Republicanism. Now it has been included in a digital database(CMFD, Chinese Master's Theses Full-text Database), which makes me so happy these days.

  

I know you are an excellent historian, and I also know a lot about you indirectly from professor Wang xi. If I can have a chance to work with you, that will be exciting.