Dr Andres Rodriguez
After completing my DPhil at Wolfson College, Oxford I landed my first job at the University of Southampton in the UK. In 2013 I took up my current position at the University of Sydney. My first book, Frontier Fieldwork. Building a Nation in China’s Borderlands examines how a new class of ‘frontier workers’ emerged in the early 20th century seeking to build a new relationship with China’s frontier in a post-imperial setting. My research has also focused on ethnic minorities in China’s borderlands and their appropriation of political discourses in the early 20th century. I continue working on the impact of World War Two in China and its global ramifications through the study of intellectual and material networks.
Research Interests:
- Twentieth Century China
- Republican China (1912-1949)
- World War Two in Asia
- Asian borderlands
- Ethnic minorities in China
- Southwest China
- Social history of war
- Decolonization in Asia
Senior Units
HSTY2640 Twentieth Century China
HSTY3801 Asian History
Honours Units
HSTY4101 Writing War in the Modern World (1850-1950)
Supervisions
PhD Completions
2019 Minerva Inwald,“Drawing on Each Other’s Strengths to Overcome Each Other’s Weaknesses”: Professional Artists, the Masses, and the Artistic Culture of the People’s Republic, 1962–1974."
2018 Qingjun Liu, "Reinterpreting the Sino-Japanese War:The Southwest Shanxi Base Area in North China 1939-1940."
Honours Completions
2022 Emily Wand, “India in the International: A Study of Indian Anti-colonial Strategy during the Interwar Period (1919-1939)”
2022 Gianni Cincotta-Lee, “Australia’s Grand Compact for the Pacific: Negotiating the past, present and future of Australia-Pacific relations.”
2020 Louis Dupree, ‘The Fighting Line’: Frederick Brown, the Boxer Uprising and the Methodist Mission in Tianjin, 1885-1909.”
2018 Jihoi Choi, “The Remembered Victory of a Forgotten War? African Americans, Civil Rights, and the Korean War.”
2017 Aliza Alpha Chin, “The Legacy of the June 4 Incident on the Sydney Chinese Community: A study of the short-term and long-term impacts of the June 4 Incident on the Chinese community of Sydney.”
2016 Thomas Gardner, “A Pacifist’s Point: William Warder Cadbury, His Mission in Canton, and Public Health Initiatives 1909-1937.”
My current research examines China’s role in the construction of the Burma Road during World War Two. Seeking to survive the Japanese invasion in 1937 the Burma Road became a vital supply line to help fuel China’s war efforts. This is part of a wider project where I seek to understand how China established new wartime connections with Southeast Asia and other parts of the world and their significance for the region today.
2020
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) Brown Equity Prize
2018
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Award
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| From Textbooks to Social Media: the Anatomy of the Perpetual Historical Memory Conflict between China and Japan in the Twenty-first Century | Heinkel Fuwei ZUO |
Publications
Books
- Rodriguez, A. (2022). Frontier Fieldwork: Building a Nation in China's Borderlands, 1919-45. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Book Chapters
- Rodriguez, A. (2013). Modern China's Borders. In Naomi Standen (Eds.), Demystifying China: New Understandings of Chinese History, (pp. 127-134). Lanham, Maryland, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
- Rodriguez, A. (2010). Nation-Building and Anthropology during the Republican Period: The Missionary Anthropological Enterprise in Western Sichuan (1922-1945) (Minguo Shiqi de Mingzugoujian he Renleixue: Sichuan Xibu de Chuanjiao Renleixue Shiye (1922-1945)). In Temule (Eds.), Duoyuan Zuqun yu Zhongxi Wenhua Jiaoliu, (pp. 105-133). Shanghai: Renmin Chubanshe.
Journals
- Rodriguez, A. (2017). A 'weak and small' race in China's southwest: Yi elites and the struggle for recognition in Republican China. Asian Ethnicity, 18(4), 563-586. [More Information]
- Rodriguez, A. (2016). Nationalism and Internationalism on the Borders: The West China Union University Museum of Art, Archaeology and Ethnology (1914-1951). Museum History Journal, 9(2), 168-187. [More Information]
- Rodriguez, A. (2011). Building the Nation, Serving the Frontier: Mobilising and Reconstructing China's Borderlands during the War of Resistance (1937-1945). Modern Asian Studies, 45(2), 345-376. [More Information]
Conferences
- Rodriguez, A. (2024). Building China's Burma Road: Wartime Connectivity and Regionalism in China's Southwest (1937-45). Annual Meeting for the Association for Asian Studies, Virtual Session: Presentation.
- Rodriguez, A. (2019). Reining in the Borders? Constitutions and the Making of Borders in Early Post-war Burma and China (1945-1950). Annual Meeting for the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Denver, United States: Presentation.
- Rodriguez, A. (2019). Yi Native Chieftains and the Influence of the International During the Chinese Republican Period. Native Writing on the History and Culture of Ethnic Minorities during the Republican Period of China, Sun Yat-Sen University, Foshan, China: Presentation.
2024
- Rodriguez, A. (2024). Building China's Burma Road: Wartime Connectivity and Regionalism in China's Southwest (1937-45). Annual Meeting for the Association for Asian Studies, Virtual Session: Presentation.
2022
- Rodriguez, A. (2022). Frontier Fieldwork: Building a Nation in China's Borderlands, 1919-45. Vancouver: UBC Press.
2019
- Rodriguez, A. (2019). Reining in the Borders? Constitutions and the Making of Borders in Early Post-war Burma and China (1945-1950). Annual Meeting for the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Denver, United States: Presentation.
- Rodriguez, A. (2019). Yi Native Chieftains and the Influence of the International During the Chinese Republican Period. Native Writing on the History and Culture of Ethnic Minorities during the Republican Period of China, Sun Yat-Sen University, Foshan, China: Presentation.
2018
- Rodriguez, A. (2018). Building Minority Representation in Post-war Burma and China (1945-1950). Between Empires: The Making and Unmaking of Borders, 19th-20th centuries Conference, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi: Presentation.
2017
- Rodriguez, A. (2017). A 'weak and small' race in China's southwest: Yi elites and the struggle for recognition in Republican China. Asian Ethnicity, 18(4), 563-586. [More Information]
2016
- Rodriguez, A. (2016). Minority Rules? Ethnic Minorities and Political Representation in China’s Early Post-war Period (1945-1950). Annual Meeting for the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Seattle, United States: Presentation.
- Rodriguez, A. (2016). Nationalism and Internationalism on the Borders: The West China Union University Museum of Art, Archaeology and Ethnology (1914-1951). Museum History Journal, 9(2), 168-187. [More Information]
2013
- Rodriguez, A. (2013). Modern China's Borders. In Naomi Standen (Eds.), Demystifying China: New Understandings of Chinese History, (pp. 127-134). Lanham, Maryland, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
2011
- Rodriguez, A. (2011). Building the Nation, Serving the Frontier: Mobilising and Reconstructing China's Borderlands during the War of Resistance (1937-1945). Modern Asian Studies, 45(2), 345-376. [More Information]
2010
- Rodriguez, A. (2010). Nation-Building and Anthropology during the Republican Period: The Missionary Anthropological Enterprise in Western Sichuan (1922-1945) (Minguo Shiqi de Mingzugoujian he Renleixue: Sichuan Xibu de Chuanjiao Renleixue Shiye (1922-1945)). In Temule (Eds.), Duoyuan Zuqun yu Zhongxi Wenhua Jiaoliu, (pp. 105-133). Shanghai: Renmin Chubanshe.
Selected Grants
2011
- National History Center, (Washington D.C.) Decolonization Seminar Workshop Grant, Rodriguez A,
2009
- British Academy, Overseas Conference Grant, Rodriguez A,
Other Grants
2022
National Library of Australia Asia Study Grant
School of Humanities Research Grant
China Studies Centre Research Grant
2021
Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation Publication Subsidy
Australian Academy of the Humanities Publication Subsidy
In the media
Interview at The Wire: "WWII What does China have to conmemorate?"Thursday September 3, 2015.
