ALM thesis writers' meeting/Revisiting Vietnam?

I went to my first ALM thesis writers meeting last night. These are sessions organized by Professor Ostrowski to let graduate students hash out some of their ideas for theses, as well as discuss issues related to research, resources, dealing with thesis advisors. etc. Professor Ostrowski, who moderates the discussion, lets students talk about their individual projects or areas of interest, which is helpful and very interesting.

Some of the more intriguing theses involve deciphering "Ghost Scrolls" by the Chinese Qing dynasty painter Luo Pen (not sure of the spelling); archaeological research on a circa 1607 British fort in Maine; a comparison of anti-Communist policies in the U.S. and Malaysia in the 1950s; and a study of Jordanian attitudes regarding American policies. One or two of the ideas discussed at the meeting were in advanced stages of research; but others were still in the proposal revision stage, and a few (including mine) were not even proposals -- we were looking for feedback from others about research, or advice on how to narrow down potential thesis topics.

I related to everyone the trouble I've had selecting a potential thesis topic. I outlined my general research question -- what China's English-language media can tell us about China, Chinese policies, and China's views of the outside world -- and discussed my proposed methodology. I then talked about three potential topics which I have discarded, or am unable to finesse:

- A computer-assisted content analysis of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Problem: Xinhua has very few hits for the 1980s -- it would be hard for me to draw conclusions based on a handful of stories

- Chinese Nationalism, as expressed in the Xinhua News Agency

Problem: identifying indicators [keywords] for nationalism; and parsing whether such references are simply a repetition of stories that appear in the Xinhua domestic service or an attempt to shape foreign readers' understanding of China.

- An increase in references to Chinese history in Xinhua -- a reflection of nationalism, or something else?

Problem: Which historical references to study, and how can I determine that they are evidence of nationalism, vs. simply Chinese people/journalists wanting to look at their roots/promote tourism/commemorate an important anniversary/etc.?

I also brought up my fallback topic ... expanding the Vietnam study I completed for Professor Kuhn's Chinese Emigration in Modern Times class in the Spring. I know how I would need to proceed with this, in terms of expanding the methodology and developing a more specific topic, but one thing that has held me back is my poor international relations background. Even though I have read a lot about Chinese foreign policy, and the Chinese government, and the disputes between China and Vietnam, I haven't taken any classes on international relations or foreign policy. Until the ALM thesis writers' meeting, I assumed this would be a handicap -- I would be missing the theoretical background and expertise from people who have really studied the relations between states.

But Professor Ostrowski said I shouldn't necessarily view this as a handicap. He said a survey course on international relations might be counterproductive (too broad) and I can get a lot of the "small strokes" of history through selective readings. He and one other graduate student also recommended I get back in touch with Professor Kuhn.

All of this is good advice. One thing I will also do in the next few weeks is tackle some more readings I picked up from Widener while I was on campus for the meeting. Some are on foreign policy, and one is on China's foreign language media (the Porter book, which I mentioned in my last post.)