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History


Morris Rossabi, Distinguished Professor of History

Office: Powdermaker 352-I
Phone: (718) 997-5382
Fax: (718) 997-
5359
morris.rossabi@qc.cuny.edu


Academic Biography
Professor Morris Rossabi was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and has lived, worked and researched throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, Europe and the United States. He earned his PhD in East and Central Asian history from Columbia University in 1970 and was just awarded an honorary doctorate from National Mongolian University in 2009. Before joining the faculty at Queens College and the Graduate Center of The City University of New York, Dr. Rossabi taught or directed programs at the University of Virginia, Case Western Reserve University, China Institute, Leiden University, Columbia University and the Doris Duke Museum of Islamic Art.  

Languages
Fluent: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German
Reading: Italian, Latin, Manchu, Mongol, Persian, Russian, Uyghur

Fellowships and Honors 

2010: Distinguished Research Appointment, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, May and June

2007: Elected Honorary Life Member, Central Eurasian Studies Society (highest distinction in leading professional organization in the field)

2001, 2005: National Endowment for the Humanities grants for summer workshops for secondary school teachers on China and the Islamic world                                 

1999: Smith Richardson Foundation Grant for Conference on “National Minorities of China”

1998-9: Smith Richardson Foundation Fellowship at Asia/Pacific Research Center at Stanford University

1997-8: Individual Project Fellowship, Soros Foundation, Open Society Institute

1993:  IREX grant for Research in Russia

1992:  Asian Cultural Council grant for travel to East and Southeast Asia

1990-2002 :PSC-CUNY Summer Grants

1989: China and Inner Asia Committee of Association for Asian Studies Grant for Sung Research Aids

1986, 1989: Littauer Foundation Grants

1986 : Committee on Scholarly Communication with the P. R. C. Grant

1982-1983: American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship

1978-9: American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship

1978-9: American Council of Learned Societies Grant for Conference on “Multi-State Relations in East Asia”

1976: Joseph Beatman Foundation Grant to direct Summer Workshop on Asia for Secondary School Teachers

1974-5: Harvard University East Asian Research Center Fellowship

1974-5: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship

1970-l: Fellowship, Ming Biographical History Project, Association for Asian Studies

1969-70: Fulbright-Hays Fellowship in Taiwan and Japan

1968-9: Smithsonian Fellowship at Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

1965: Harvard University Fellowship

1962-4: Columbia University Fellowships

1957-61: New York State Regents Scholarship 

Publications

Books
Islam in Asia (contract for book from Oxford University Press)

History of China
(contract for book from Blackwell Publishers). Part of 24-volume world history.

Co-editor (with Mary Rossabi). Sambuu and the Paths of Life (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

Modern and Traditional China and Mongolia: Essays from Morris Rossabi's Career (Cambridge: Global International, 2010)

Three Mongols in the Twentieth Century (Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 2010)

Mongolian Empire and World History (W.W. Norton and Co., 2010)

Editor and Contributor of four chapters. Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire (University of Washington Press, 2009)

Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists (University of California Press, 2005; chosen by the Press for the Philip Lilienthal imprint; paperback edition, 2005). Translation into Japanese.

Editor and Contributor. Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers (University of Washington Press, 2004; paperback edition, 2005).

Co-author (with Mary Rossabi). Bounty from the Sheep: Autobiography of a Herdsman, Ts. Namkhainyambuu. (Cambridge: White Horse Press, 2000).

Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West (New York: Kodansha, 1992). Translation into Turkish. Paperback with new preface from University of California Press, 2010.

Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (University of California Press 1988). Translations in Braille, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Mongolian, Russian and Spanish. Paperback edition, 1989; Folio Society edition, 2005; New Twentieth Anniversary Paperback edition with New Preface, 2009.

Editor and Contributor. China Among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbors, 10th-14th Centuries (University of California Press, 1983; paperback edition, 1984)

The Jurchens in the Yuan and Ming (Cornell University Press, 1982)

China and Inner Asia from 1368 to the Present Day (London: Thames and Hudson, 1975)

Book Chapters
"Tabriz and the Yuan" in Ralph Kauz, ed. Aspects of the Maritime Silk Road: From the Persian Gulf to the Read Sea (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010).

"The Silk Roads" in Jacqueline Moore an Rebecca Wendelken, eds. Teaching the Silk Road: Reflections and Pedagogical Essays (Albany: SUNY Press, 2010): 14-36.

"China and Central Asia: Developing Relations and Impact on Democracy" in Hua Shiping, ed. Islam and Democracy in Asia (New York: Cambria Press, 2009): 279-302.

"Notes on Khubilai Khan: Religious Toleration or Political Expediency?" in Nurten Kilic-Schubel and Ilker Erim Binbas, eds. Intellectual and Cultural Studies in Honor of Isenbike Togan (Istanbul: Ithaki Publishers, 2009): 47-75.

"Introduction" in Morris Rossabi, L. Cole and Marleen Kassel, eds. Interweaving Cultures: Islam in Southeast Asia (New York: Asia Society, 2007): 1-10.

"Ming Officials and Northwest China" in Fabienne Jagou, ed. Officials on the Chinese Borders. (Taipei: Academia Sinica, 2006): 464-491.

"Namkhainyambuu and the Changes in the Herding Economy of Mongolia" in Ole Bruun and Li Narangoa, eds. Mongols from Country to City: Floating Boundaries, Pastoralism and City Life in the Mongol Lands (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2006): 185-211.

Preface to Paul Ratchnevsky, Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, 2nd ed. (London: Blackwell, 2005), iv-xxv.

Three chapters in From Silk to Oil: Cross-Cultural Connections Along the Silk Roads (New York: China Institute, 2005). Awarded Franklin Buchanan Prize, Association for Asia Studies, 2006

"Communist and Post-Communist Mongolian Law and Pasture Land" in W. Johnson and I. Popova, eds. Central Asian Law: An Historical Overview (Lawrence: Society for Asian Legal History, 2004): 107-118.

"The Cultural Legacy of the Mongols" in The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002): 12-35. Awarded Alfred Barr Award from the College Art Association for the best museum catalogue of 2002.

"China and Mongolia: The Democratic Tide" in Peter Ackerman and Jack Duval, eds. A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000): 421-456.

"Central Asa and Mongolia" in John Bowman, ed. Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture (Columbia University Press, 2000)

“A New Mongolia in a New World” in Mongolian Economic and Political Development During the Past Ten Years.  Taipei:  Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, 2000, pp. 41-84.“Ming China and Inner Asia” in D. Twitchett and F. Mote, eds. The Cambridge History of China: Ming: Part 2.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 221-271.

 

“The Silk Trade in China and Central Asia” in When Silk Was Gold  (catalog for exhibition at Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997), pp. 7-19.

 

“Ming Foreign Policy: The Case of Hami” in S. Dabringhaus and R. Ptak, ed., China and Her Neighbours: Borders, Visions of the Other, Foreign Policy, 10th-19th Century (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1997): 79-97.

 

“The Mongols and the West” in A. Embree and C. Gluck, eds., Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1997): 55-62.


“Mongolia: From Chinggis Khan to Independence” in Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan (catalog for exhibition at Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, 1995): 25-49.

 

“The Legacy of the Mongols” in B. Manz, ed., Central Asia in Historical Perspective (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994): 27-44.

 

“The Reign of Khubilai Khan” in D. Twitchett and H. Franke, eds. The Cambridge History of China: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994): 414-489.

 

“The Steppes” and “To the Indian Ocean” in Times Atlas of World Exploration (London: Harper-Collins, 1991): 148-161.

 

“The Decline of the Central Asian Caravan Trade” in J. Tracy, ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 351-371 (Reprinted in G. Seaman, ed., Ecology and Empire.  Los Angeles: Ethnographics, 1990, pp. 81-102).

 

“China and the Islamic World” in B. Lewis, ed.  East-West: Mutual Interactions.  New York: Humanities Press, 1985, pp. 269-283.

 

“The Jews of China” in C. Willemen, ed. Jews of China.  Gent: Gent University Press, 1984, pp. 15-33.

 

“The Muslims in the Early Yuan Dynasty” in J. Langlois, ed. China Under Mongol Rule.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981, pp. 257-295 (Reprinted in L. Nelson, ed., The Human Perspective: Readings in World Civilization.  New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986, pp. 227-241).

 

“Khubilai Khan and the Women in His Family” in W. Bauer, ed., Sino-Mongolica: Festschrift für Herbert Franke.  Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1979, pp. 153-180.

 

“Muslim Revolts in Late Ming and Early Ch’ing” in J. Spence and J. Wills, eds., From Ming to Ch’ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979, pp. 168-199.

 

Articles

 

“Ballet in Mongolia,” Ballet Review (Spring, 2010),

 

“Islam in China,” Education about Asia (2009), pp. 13-17.

 

“Transmogrification of the MPRP,” Pacific Affairs 82:2 (Summer, 2009), pp. 231-250.

 

“Mongol Influence on Chinese Art,” Golden Web, (2009), pp. 1-18.

 

Preface to George Zhao, Marital Strategies of the Yuan Dynasty (New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2008), pp. iii-viii.

 

“A. D. Simukov: His Achievements,” Mongol Messenger, April 11, 2007.

 

“Liao Dynasty,” “Women in Modern Mongolia,” AskAsia, Asia Society (2007).

 

“Mongolia: A Different View,” The Silk Road 2:1 (2004), pp. 21-26.

 

“A Painter with Needles,” Persimmon (April, 2003), pp.  1-6.

 

“The Development of Mongol Identity in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” Itinerario 24:2 (2000), pp. 44-61. (Reprinted in L. Blusse and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, eds., Shifting Communities and Identity Formation in Early Modern Asia.  Leiden:  Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies, Universiteit Leiden, 2003, pp. 45-60).

 

“Mongolia in Crisis:  Western Advisers and Mongolia,” OSI Fellows Magazine (January, 1999), pp. 7-21.

 

“The Silk Roads:  An Educational Resource,” Education About Asia  (February, 1999), pp. 22-32.

 

“Behind the Silk Screen: Movements of Weavers in Asia, 7th-14th Centuries,” Orientations (March. 1998), pp. 84-89.

 

“Introduction” in Cindy Ho, Trailing the Written Word.  New York: John Jay Gallery, 1997.

 

“Mongolia in the 1990s: From Commissars to Capitalists?,” Open Society Occasional Papers  (1997).

.

“The Yuan Dynasty,” “The Silk Roads,”  Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (1997-1998).

 

5 entries in R. Cowles and G. Parker, eds., The Reader’s Companion to Military History.  Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1996.

 

“Central Asia: Crossroads of Eurasia,” FACES (December, 1996).

 

“How the Sino-Russian Summit Plays on the Steppe,” Asian Wall Street Journal (April 25, 1996).

 

“Mongolia Recovers a National Identity,” Asian Wall Street Journal (May 29, 1996).

 

“All the Khan’s Horses,” Natural History (October, 1994), pp. 48-57 (Reprinted in David McComb, ed. World History: Prehistory to 1500.  Guilford: Dushkin Publishing Group, 1996).

 

“Eurasian Steppe Peoples,” Academic American Encyclopedia (1994).

 

“The Study of the Women of Inner Asia and China in the Mongol Era,” Gest Library Journal (1992), pp. 17-28.

 

“Mongolia: A New Opening?,” Current History (September, 1992), pp. 278-283.

 

“A Brief Survey of Some Recent Works on the Yuan Dynasty,” Studies in Chinese History (October, 1991), pp. 27-34; translated into Chinese.

 

“Marco Polo,” “Attila,” St. James Press Guide to Biography.  London: St. James Press, 1991.

 

Entries in Encyclopedia Iranica.  London: Routledge Kegon Paul, 1990.

 

“Kuan Tao-sheng: Woman Artist in Yuan China,” Bulletin of Sung and Yuan Studies (1989), pp. 67-84.

 

“Khubilai Khan and His Dream of a World Empire,” Terra (March-April, 1989), pp. 26-31.

 

10 entries in A. Embree, ed., Encyclopedia of Asian History.  New York: Macmillan, 1987.

 

“Chinese Myths About the National Minorities: The Case of Khubilai.” Central and Inner Asian Studies (1987), pp. 47-81.

 

“Islam in China” in M. Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion.  New York: Macmillan. 1987, vol. 7, pp. 377-390 (Reprinted in The Religious Traditions of Asia ed. by J. Kitagawa, New York: Macmillan, 1989, pp. 355-374).

 

“Ch’en Ch’en’s Hsi-yu fan-kuo chih: A Translation,” Ming Studies (1983), pp. 49-60.

 

“Khubilai Khan,” Encyclopedia Americana (1983).

 

“On Global History,” American Historical Review (June, 1982), pp. 729-732.

 

“Khubilai Khan and Marco Polo,” published to coincide with Marco Polo series on television, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Post, Seattle Times, etc., 1982.

 

“Muslims in China: A Research Note,” Ming Studies (1982), pp. 22-27.

 

5 essays in B. Hook, ed., Cambridge Encyclopedia of China.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 (Reprinted, 1991).

 

“Central Asia,” Collier’s Encyclopedia (1980).

 

11 biographies in L.C. Goodrich and C. Y. Fang, eds., A Dictionary of Ming Biography.  New York: Columbia University Press, 1976, pp. 1-2, 11-15, 416-420, 479-481, 683-686, 971-972, 1035-1039, 1308-1309.

 

“Two Ming Envoys to Inner Asia,” T’oung Pao (1976), pp. 1-34.

 

“Cheng Ho and Timur,” Oriens Extremus (1973), pp. 129-136.

 

“Ming China and Turfan,” Central Asiatic Journal (1972), pp. 206-225.; translated into Chinese.

 

“Esen’s Pride and Ming China’s Prejudice,” Mongolia Society Bulletin (Fall, 1970), pp. 42-50.

 

“Toward Peace in the Middle East,” Cleveland Plain-Dealer Sunday Magazine (November 8, 1970), pp. 31-39.

 

“The Tea and Horse Trade with Inner Asia during the Ming,” Journal of Asian History (1970), pp. 136-168.

 

118 book reviews in American Historical Review, Asian Ethnology, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Bulletin of Sung and Yuan Studies, China Quarterly, China Review International, Cleveland Magazine, Der Islam, The Historian, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal of Asian History, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Journal of Near Eastern History,  Journal of Oriental Studies, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal of World History, Law and Society Journal, Ming Studies, Muslim World, Natural History, Pacific Affairs, Political Science Quarterly, T’oung Pao, International History Review, Journal of Chinese Religions, Shofar, Journal of Cold War Studies (1970-Present).


 

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