Sarah Allan (; born 1945) is an American
paleographer and scholar of ancient China. She was a Burlington Northern Foundation Professor of Asian Studies in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
; she is currently affiliated to the University of California, Berkeley. She is Chair for the Society for the Study of Early China and Editor of Early China. Previously, she was Senior Lecturer in Chinese at the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...
at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...
. She is best known for her interdisciplinary approach to the
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
and philosophical systems of early Chinese civilization.
Biography
Allan received a B.A. degree in 1966 from the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1969 and 1974 respectively from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. At UCLA, she studied archaeology with
Richard C. Rudolph
Richard C. Rudolph (1909-April 9, 2003) was an American professor of Chinese Literature and Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Career
His professional career all but began with his first trip to China in 1948–49, ju ...
and took a course in Chinese art history with J. Leroy Davidson, and she studied under
Peter A. Boodberg
Peter Alexis Boodberg (born Pyotr Alekseyevich Budberg; 8 April 1903 – 29 June 1972) was a Russian-American scholar, linguist, and sinologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley for 40 years. Boodberg was influential in 20th ...
and
Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard (March 17, 1909 – August 15, 1989) was a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies.
Biography
Born in Potsdam, German Empire, he had a stron ...
at Berkeley. She has published widely in English and Chinese (as Ai Lan 艾兰).
In her work, Allan has presented an attempt to reconstruct the basic concepts of the mythology of China's
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally suc ...
based on evidence from a number of sources, including Shang inscriptions (primarily from
oracle bone
Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. '' Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used fo ...
s, as well as
bronzes), myths and stories recorded during the
Zhou and
Han dynasties that followed the Shang, which appear to be derived from Shang sources, as well as archaeological data. Her works have been translated into both Chinese and Korean. Her most recent book is ''Buried Ideas: Legends of Abdication and Ideal Government in Recently Discovered Early Chinese Bamboo-slip Manuscripts'' (SUNY Press, 2015), which discusses four
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
(475-221 BCE) bamboo-slip texts about
Yao's abdication to
Shun
Shun may refer to one of the following:
*To shun, which means avoiding association with an individual or group
*Shun (given name), a masculine Japanese given name
* Seasonality in Japanese cuisine (''shun'', 旬)
Emperor Shun
* Emperor Shun (舜 ...
, centering on issues of meritocracy and hereditary succession.
Allan has also collaborated extensively with Chinese scholars,
Li Xueqin 李学勤 and Qi Wenxin 齐文心 in particular, in publishing Chinese materials in Western collections in order to make them available to scholars in China. Another area of collaboration is her organization of international conferences and workshops on Chinese
excavated texts.
For a time, Allan was Senior Lecturer in Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Until 2019, she was Burlington Northern Foundation Professor of Asian Studies in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures at Dartmouth College. She currently resides in California. She is Chair for the Society for the Study of Early China and Editor of ''Early China''.
Allan was married to the artist
Nicol Allan
Nicol Allan (1931–2019) was an American artist known for his paper collages.
Biography
Nicol Allan was born in Los Angeles in 1931 of Scottish immigrant parents. His father worked as a streetcar conductor until his death of tuberculosis, ...
,
who died in 2019.
Selected works
Monographs
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Collaborative works
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** Vol. 1 (1985)
** Vol. 2 (1992)
Articles
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Works translated into Chinese
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** - translated by
Wang Tao
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Edited volumes
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Sarah
American sinologists
Academics of SOAS University of London
Dartmouth College faculty
Living people
American women historians
1945 births
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
21st-century American historians
Women orientalists
American women non-fiction writers
21st-century American women