Geremie R. Barmé (born 1954) is an Australian

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

, author, and film-maker on modern and traditional China. He was formerly Director, Australian Centre on China in the World and Chair Professor of Chinese History at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

College of Asia and the Pacific in Canberra. Barmé is known for his scholarship on modern Chinese cultural history, his writings as a

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or ...

in newspapers and magazines, and his work in the documentary films. These include ''The Gate of Heavenly Peace'' (1995), which depicted the spring on 1989 in China leading up to the events of June Fourth, and ''Morning Sun'', on the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. He is known as a non-native scholar who can research and write Chinese at the highest level. His book ''An Artistic Exile: A Life of Feng Zikai'' was awarded the

Joseph Levenson Book Prize Joseph Levenson Book Prize is awarded each year in memory of Joseph R. Levenson by the Association for Asian Studies to two English-language books, one whose main focus is on China before 1900 and the other for works on post-1900 China. According t ...

for Modern China, 2004. He was editor of the ANU based e-journal ''China Heritage Quarterly''from 2005 to 2012, and is the editor of ''China Heritage''. In 2016, he founded The Wairarapa Academy for New Sinology in collaboration with sinologist John Minford.

Education and career

Barmé took his B.A. Asian Studies from the

, majoring in Chinese and Sanskrit, then studied at universities in the People's Republic of China (1974–77) and Japan (1980–83). When he first returned to Australia as a Lecturer in History, one of his first students was future Australian Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

, whose support was important in funding the Centre for China in the World. He edited the journal ''

East Asian History The History of East Asia generally encompasses the histories of China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan from prehistoric times to the present. East Asia is not a uniform term and each of its countries has a different national histor ...

'' from 1991 to 2007 In 2011, he gave the inaugural "China in the World" Invited Lecture at ANU, "Australia and China in the World: Whose Literacy?"

New Sinology

In an essay first published in 2005, Barmé called for a "New Sinology," which would be :descriptive of a "robust engagement with contemporary China" and indeed with the Sinophone world in all of its complexity, be it local, regional or global. It affirms a conversation and intermingling that also emphasizes strong scholastic underpinnings in both the classical and modern Chinese language and studies, at the same time as encouraging an ecumenical attitude in relation to a rich variety of approaches and disciplines, whether they be mainly empirical or more theoretically inflected. In seeking to emphasize innovation within Sinology by recourse to the word 'new', it is nonetheless evident that I continue to affirm the distinctiveness of Sinology as a mode of intellectual inquiry. The historian

Arif Dirlik Arif Dirlik (; 23 November 1940 – 1 December 2017) was a Turkish-American historian who published on historiography and political ideology in modern China, as well as issues in modernity, globalization, and post-colonial criticism. Dirlik rece ...

is among those who welcomed Barmé’s intervention as "an important reminder of the importance of language as the defining feature of the term."Arif Dirli
Literary Identity/Cultural Identity: Being Chinese in the Contemporary World
MCLC Resource Center (accessed April 9, 2015).

Selected major publications

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References

External links

Barmé, Geremie

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authority page. *

Evan Osnos Evan Lionel Richard Osnos (born December 24, 1976) is an American journalist and author. He has been a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' since 2008, best known for his coverage of politics and foreign affairs, in the United States and China. His ...

Q & A Geremie Barme
New Yorker (29 September 2009)
Geremie Barme Archives
China Digital Times Links to articles.
China in the World Lecture - Geremie Barmé

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

New Sinology 后汉学/後漢學
''The China Story'' (ANU). A collection of texts and links on the New Sinology. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barme, Geremie Australian sinologists Australian National University faculty 1954 births Living people