Dr J. Charles Schencking
Senior Lecturer
- Telephone:
- (+61 3) 8344 5976
- Email:
- j.schencking@unimelb.edu.au
- Fax:
- (+61 3) 8344 7894
- Location:
- Room 309
Sydney Myer Asia Centre
The University of Melbourne VIC 3010
Academic Profile (click on the link for more information)
Biography
Charles Schencking is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Historical Studies and the Asia Institute where he has taught Japanese history with flare and passion since 2000. Charles brings a truly international background to his subjects, having studied and taught at universities in Britain, Japan, and America.
Charles has published widely on the political, social, and environmental history of Japan. His current research revolves around the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that destroyed Tokyo and the culture of catastrophe and reconstruction in Japan from 1923 to 1930. In 2007, Charles was awarded a Universitas 21 Fellowship for 2008 to collaborate with scholars of natural disasters and interdisciplinary teaching at the National University of Singapore, Hong Kong University, University of British Columbia, and Western Washington University.
Charles’ teaching stresses the importance of learning as an active and holistic process of discovery. Through interactive lectures, innovative tutorial exercises, and targeted, integrated assessment he fosters the development of the core skills of inquiry, research, and persuasive expression. Reflecting his commitment to research-led teaching, Charles’ subjects demonstrate how the historical study of natural disasters, catastrophes, and wars in Asia and the Pacific have critical relevance to understanding the world today. In all of his teaching endeavors, he emboldens students to think critically and creatively about the past in the hope that this will challenge the way they see the present and, as global citizens, perhaps even shape the future.
Charles participates in numerous programs geared to assisting international students and those from equity groups succeed in tertiary education at the University of Melbourne. He also participates in university-wide training workshops for new tutors and staff that focus on the challenges and rewards of teaching in a multi-cultural, international classroom. In 2007, Charles served on the selection committee for the inaugural round of the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program.
In April 2006, Charles Schencking was awarded the Barbara Falk Teaching Award. He was selected as the teacher of the year within the Arts, Education, Law, and Music faculties at the University of Melbourne.
In November 2006, Charles Schencking was awarded one of twenty-six Carrick Awards for Australian University Teaching. He was selected in the Early Career Category.
Download PDF of Charles' teaching philosophy (222KB)
Current research project
The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Culture of Catastrophe in Japan: At the Epicentre of Natural Disaster and National Reconstruction.
Project Summary: This project will revolutionize our understanding of Japan’s most destructive natural disaster. It will examine the Great Kantô Earthquake within the socio-political context of post WWI Japan and place it at the epicentre of two critical discourses that dominated political, ideological, and cultural life: that of perceived social, ideological, and political regress and that of national reconstruction. My project will result in the first study in English or Japanese that not only explores how social commentators, elites, and institutions interpreted the earthquake catastrophe but also how these same actors attempted to use the disaster to reinvigorate state, society, and subjects on an ideological, political, social, and economic level.
National Benefit of Current Research Project: As the Indian Ocean Tsunami illustrated, Australia’s primary region of strategic, economic, and political interest and influence is highly prone to catastrophic natural disasters. Following such events, Australia has been, and will be, called upon to provide relief and reconstruction assistance. My project will enhance our understanding of how bureaucratic rivalries, conflicting economic, political, and ideological interests often shape and limit public policy outcomes following disasters. A deeper understanding of how governments have interpreted, dealt with, and attempted to use catastrophic events for political and ideological ends will benefit Australia by allowing us to more successfully address and respond to disasters in our region.
Recent Publications
Sole Authored Book
- J. Charles Schencking, Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, and the Emergence of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005). 304 pages. ISBN # 0- 8047-4977-9
Published Book Reviews of Making Waves
- Roger Dingman (University of Southern California), The Journal of Military History, 70:1 (January 2006): 249-250
- Michael Lewis (Michigan State University), Monumenta Nipponica, 60:3 (Autumn 2005): 412-414
- Steven Bullard (Australian War Memorial) Asian Studies Review 29 (December 2005): 427-428
- Bruce Reynolds (San Jose State University), Japanese Studies, 25:3 (December 2005): 301-302
- Fred Dickinson (University of Pennsylvania), Pacific Affairs, 78:4 (Winter 2005-06): 662-664
- S.C.M. Paine (United States Naval War College), Naval War College Review, 59:3 (Summer 2006): 155-156
- Nicholas Sarantakes (US Army General Command and Army Staff College) Intelligence and National Security 21:4 (August 2006):634-635
- William McBride (US Naval Academy) Technology and Culture 47:4 (October 2006): 833-834
- Andrew Lambert (Kings College, London) International Journal of Maritime History 18:2 (December 2006): 606-607
- Michael Barnhart (State University of New York) Journal of Japanese Studies 33:1 (Winter 2007): 199-201
Journal Articles
- J. Charles Schencking. “The Catastrophe One Confronted in Post Earthquake Japan: Tokyo as a Devastated War and Occupation Zone, 1923.” Japanese Studies 29:1 (May 2009). Forthcoming.
- J. Charles Schencking. “The Great Kantô Earthquake and the Culture of Catastrophe and Reconstruction in 1920s Japan.” Journal of Japanese Studies 34:2 (Summer 2008):295-331.
- J. Charles Schencking. “The Great Kant Earthquake of 1923 and the Japanese Nation: Responding to an Urban Calamity of an Unprecedented Nature.” Education About Asia 12:2 (Fall 2007):20-25. Special issue on “Natural Disasters in Asia.”
- J. Charles Schencking, ‘Catastrophe, Opportunism, Contestation: The Fractured Politics of Reconstructing Tokyo following the Great Kantô Earthquake of 1923’, in Modern Asian Studies, 40:4 (October 2006): 833-874
- J. Charles Schencking, ‘The Imperial Japanese Navy and the Constructed Consciousness of a South Seas Destiny, 1872-1921,’ in Modern Asian Studies 33:4 (October 1999): 769-796
- J. Charles Schencking, ‘Bureaucratic Politics, Military Budgets, and Japan’s Southern Advance: The Imperial Navy’s Seizure of German Micronesia in World War I,’ in War in History 5:3 (July 1998): 308-326
Chapters in Edited Volumes
- J. Charles Schencking, “Admiral Tôgô: The Japanese Commander Who Destroyed the Russian Fleet,” in Jeremy Black, ed., Great Military Leaders and their Campaigns. (London: Thames & Hudson, 2008): 234-237.
- J. Charles Schencking, “Introduction” in Ryoko Adachi and Andrew McKay, eds., Echos of War: Australians Voice their Feeling about Japan. (Tokyo: Mirai Publishers, 2008): 3-7.
- ‘Interservice Rivalry and Politics in Post-War Japan,’ in John Steinberg et. al., The Russo-Japanese War in a Global Perspective: World War Zero, (London: Brill, 2005): 565-580
- J. Charles Schencking, ‘Navalism, Naval Expansion, and War: The Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the Japanese Navy, 1902-1922,’ in Philips O’Brien ed., The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, (London: Routledge, 2004): 122-139
- J. Charles Schencking, ‘The Politics of Pragmatism and Pageantry: Selling a National Navy at the Elite and Local Level in Japan, 1890-1913,’ in Sandra Wilson ed., Nation and Nationalism in Japan, (London: Routledge/Curzon, 2002): 21-37
- J. Charles Schencking, ‘From Micro History to Macro History: Drawing on Japanese Soldiers’ Experiences in the Second World War,’ in Peter Bastian and Roger Bell eds., Through Depression and War: The United States and Australia, (Sydney: Australia-American Fulbright Commission, 2002): 118-128
Encyclopedia Entries, Book Reviews, and Review Articles
Charles has published four entries in the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World and one entry in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History. He has published 26 book reviews in journals including: Japanese Studies, Monumenta Nipponica, Journal of World History, Modern Asian Studies, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and Asian Studies Review. The five most recent are:- Richard Smethurst, From Foot Soldier to Finance Minister, Takahashi Korekiyo: Japan’s Keynes (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007). Japanese Studies 28:3 (December 2008).
- Mark Metzler, Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). Japanese Studies 27:2 (September 2007): 212-215.
- Gregory Clancey, Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868-1930 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). Monumenta Nipponica 62:2 (Summer 2007): 5-8.
- Euan Graham, Japan’s Sea Lane Security, 1940–2004: A Matter of Life and Death? (London: Routledge, 2006). Japanese Studies 26:3 (December 2006):391-392.
- “Behind Singapore’s Fall,” review article. 29 October 2005, The Age, p. 4. Review included Peter Thompson, The Battle for Singapore (London: Platkus, 2005), and Colin Smith, Singapore Burning, (London: Viking, 2005).
Teaching
131-039 The Rise of Modern Japan, 1850s to 1960s
131-210 Total War in Asia and the Pacific, 1931-1952
131-463 WWII in Asia and the Pacific
Supervision
Current Ph.D Supervisions
- Steve Hills, A history of Nuclear Power in Australia. Primary Supervisor.
- Brett Holman, Air Mindedness: The Impact of Airpower on the British People, 1908-1939. Primary Supervisor
- Jordan Winfield, Buddhism and Authority in Burma. Primary Supervisor
- Bob Marimon, Victorian Defence Schemes from 1851 to 1900. Co-primary supervisor with John Murphy
MA Completions (Since 2000)
- Nick Gillard, The McNamara Line and the Vietnam War. Primary Supervisor
- Tom Dowling, The Okinawan Teachers Association and the Flag Reversal Policy, 1945-1971. Primary Supervisor
- Janet Roberts, The Yachtsman’s Scheme and Australian Naval Support of Britain in 1939-40. Co-primary supervisor with John Lack
- Janet Borland, Capitalizing on Catastrophe: Educators, Education, and the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Primary supervisor. Completed in 2003
- Caroline Spencer, The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Reconstruction of Yokohama. Primary Supervisor. Completed in 2005
- Jordan Winfield, Impermanence and Insurrection: Buddhism and Anti-Colonial Resistance in 19th and 20th Century Burma. Primary Supervisor. Completed in 2007
PhD Completions (Since 2000)
- Chris Mullis, Between Two Empires: The Great Kanto Earthquake and Japanese Communities in America. Primary Supervisor
- Rosalind Hearder, Careers in Captivity: Australian Prisoner-of-War Medical Officers in Japanese Captivity During World War II. Associate and Co-primary supervisor with John Lack. Completed in 2003
- Richard Trembath, Remembering the Forgotten War: Australia’s Role in the Korean War. Associate and Co-primary supervisor with John Lack. Completed in 2003
- Jonathan Spear, A History of the Australian Red Cross in World War II. Associate supervisor with Kate Darian-Smith. Completed in 2006