Dr Christopher Harding (BA, MA, MSt, DPhil (Oxon), FRHistS)

Senior Lecturer; Asian History

Biography

Background

Biography

I grew up in London before heading ‘up north’, as it seemed at the time, to Oxford University. Following an undergraduate degree in History I was the co-founder of a company producing music for the computer games industry, before being lured back into academia via an MSt in Historical Research and then a DPhil in South Asian history, both at St Antony’s College, Oxford.

In 2004 I had the opportunity to go to Japan for a couple of years on a Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Scholarship, studying the language intensively, working on some comparative South Asia – Japan research, and training and working as a journalist with Tokyo’s Asahi Shimbun.

I returned to the UK at the start of 2007 to take up a post at Edinburgh University, where I now research and teach on both South Asia and Japan. Since becoming one of AHRC/BBC's ten New Generation Thinkers in 2013-14, I have also worked in broadcast journalism for BBC Radio 3 and 4, including a four-part series on global cultures and mental health: The Borders of Sanity. I write for a broad range of publications - please see my personal webpages for more.

Affiliated research centres

Centre for South Asian Studies, Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History.

Other contacts

My personal webpages are at www.christopher-harding.com

I also write a weekly newsletter about Japan and East-West connections: www.ChrisHardingJapan.com

External appointments

Book and peer review for:

- History of Psychiatry

- Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry

- English Historical Review

- Journal of Ecclesiastical History

- Journal of Asian Studies

- Funding bodies, including AHRC

- Academic publishers, including Routledge.

Advisory Board member, History Today magazine.

Qualifications

Please see my Edinburgh Research Explorer page: https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/christopher-harding/

Undergraduate teaching

  • In Search of Modern Selves: Psychiatry and Psychotherapies in India and Japan, 1880 - the Present  (4MA)
  • Japan: Politics, Culture, and Social Change: 1868 – 1952
  • Global Connections Since 1450
  • South Asian Studies 2 (School of Social and Political Science)
  • 4MA Dissertation supervision, on Indian, Japanese, and 'East-West' topics 
  • Historical Skills and Methods I & II

Postgraduate teaching

  • Seeking Japan in a Westernizing World: Revolution, Romance, and Imperialism, 1868 - 1945
  • Historical Methodology
  • Approaches to History
  • Writing History

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

  • David Bonner, PhD, Japanese migration to the United States and Brazil, Lead supervisor
  • Jane Moore, PhD, Ainu in Modern Japan, Lead supervisor
  • Fanny Cornu, PhD, Europe and Bakumatsu Japan, Lead Supervisor

Research summary

Places: 

  • Asia 
  • Britain & Ireland
  • Europe
  • Scotland

Themes: 

  • Comparative & Global History
  • Culture
  • Ideas
  • Imperialism
  • Medicine, Science & Technology
  • Religion
  • Society

Periods: 

  • Nineteenth Century
  • Twentieth Century & After

Research interests

In my research I explore the highly fruitful cultural dialogue that took place between the Western world and Asia (principally Japan and India) across the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

I focus on mental health and related religious and philosophical ideas, looking especially at the pioneering of new practices in psychiatry, psychotherapy, and spirituality. 

Current research activities

I recently published a book called The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East, about Westerners’ search for meaning in Asia and Asian culture. I am currently preparing a follow-up project, focusing on the contemporary world.

Knowledge Exchange and Impact

For my Knowledge Exchange and Impact work, please see my personal webpages (www.christopher-harding.com).

Current research interests

Cultural Encounters Between the West, India and Japan: Early Modern & Modern Eras Interconnected Histories of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Religion and Spirituality

Past research interests

History of Christian Missionary Work in Modern South Asia

Knowledge exchange

Please see my Edinburgh Research Explorer page (https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/christopher-harding/) and my personal webpages (www.christopher-harding.com).

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