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Professor Songster holds a joint appointment with the
School of International and Area Studies and is finishing
a book, PANDA NATION: Nature Protection, Science,
and Nationalism in the People’s Republic of China,
which examines the creation of Nature Reserves and giant
panda protection in the context of China’s efforts
to distinguish itself as a nation. This research bridges
many fields and topics and will contribute to a rich
scholarly literature on American, European, and Japanese
ways of thinking about nationalism, state-building,
and the role of nature and nature reserves in this process.
The study will offer a pioneering look at Chinese approaches
to nature reserves while simultaneously exploring the
cultural production of the panda as a national symbol,
both occurring against the backdrop of China’s
much publicized attempts at socialist transformation
and later post-socialist development. Her next major
research project examines the extraction of wild fauna
and medicinal herbs from China’s natural areas
for use in Chinese medicine and medicinal trade during
the Republican and PRC eras. She is also interested
in the relationship between nature, industry, and politics
(specifically paper production and supply) during the
Republican Era, 1911-1949. Professor Songster has offered
a wide array of courses, including East Asian surveys,
ethnic identity in China, and a small seminar on China
and the international environmental crisis. She received
her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego
and her B.A. from University of California, Berkeley.
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