Mark Pitner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Asian History, Division of Social & Behavioral Science at Elmira College
From Elmira, NY
From Elmira, NY
Dr. Pitner joined the history faculty at Elmira College in 2011. Before coming to Elmira College, Mark taught at the University of Tennessee, the University of Washington, and Cornish College of the Arts. He is also currently an Associate in Research at Cornell University. Mark completed his dissertation work at the University of Washington. He has also spent numerous years working with the East Asian art collection at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) as a Blakemore Curatorial Fellow (2004-2008) and in recent years on the Getty Foundation Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative at SAAM. Mark has lived in China, Taiwan, and Japan. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Taiwan (2008-2009) and regularly brings Elmira College students to China during Term III. He has written on developments in Ruism (Confucianism), the history of natural science in China, how disability was perceived and described in early China, and is currently working on a number of projects that explore the role of place in the intellectual history of China.
Follow Mark
Defining Disability: a Review of the Language and Terminology Used to Describe and Define Disability in Early China
This study explores a range of words and concepts used to describe the disabled in the textual record from the Warring States Period through the Han Dynasty. This paper will look at collective terms such as changji 常疾 and juihui 九惠 as well as the specific conditions that populate these collective terms. When we look closely at the words and their contexts a number of larger features of this history emerge that help us to understand the conception of disability in early China. This is a chapter in a collection of studies exploring the history of disability in early China titled "Other Bodies: Disability and Bodily Impairment in Early China" (Routledge University Press)
August 2024 -
Publications
From Pufferfish to Camels: Reading the Shijing for Insights into Changing Perceptions of Aging in Early China,”
This study explores the phrase taibei 台背as it appears in the Shijing and the subsequent hermeneutical tradition that strained to interpret the term. Given the almost lexigraphic role of the Shijing in the interpretive history of the early imperial tradition, the two uses of taibei in the Shijing developed into a rich reservoir of interpretations that offer us a unique opportunity to excavate a network of changing conceptions of aging in early China. (Forthcoming)
January 2024 -
Publications
“From the Regional to the Central: the Han Dynasty,” in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Volume 192, Lawrence J. Trudeau ed.. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2018.
August 2018 -
Publications
“Stuttered Speech and Moral Intent: Disability and Elite Identity Construction in Early Imperial China,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 137.4 (October-December 2017), 699-717.
October 2017 -
Publications
“The Wasp and the Worm, getting inside the Body of the Sage.” In Parasites, Worms, and the Human Body in Religion and Culture. Eds. Brenda Gardenour and Misha Tadd. New York: Peter Lang, 2011.
April 2012 -
Publications
“Han Shi waizhuan” 韓詩外傳. In Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One. Eds. David R. Knechtges and Taiping Zhang. Leiden: Brill Press, 2010.
March 2010 -
Publications
“Shigaku Zasshi Summary of Japanese Scholarship for 2002: Warring States, Qin and Han.” Early China 31 (2009): 277-292.
May 2009 -
Articles
“Shigaku Zasshi Summary of Japanese Scholarship for 2001: Warring States, Qin and Han.” Early China 30 (2005): 223-241.
June 2005 -
Articles
“Shigaku Zasshi Summary of Japanese Scholarship for 2000: Warring States, Qin and Han.” Early China 29 (2004): 289-305.
August 2004 -
Articles
“Shigaku Zasshi Summary of Japanese Scholarship for 1999: Warring States, Qin and Han.” Early China 28 (2003): 229-243.
September 2003 -
Articles
Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative
Collaborated with Dr. Wang Yao-ting and Dr. Josh Yiu, Getty Foundation Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative
Research Projects
Student Field work in China, 2013
I have had the great pleasure of organizing and leading Elmira College’s first study abroad in China course “China East to West-Past to Present.” This course begins on campus familiarizing the participants to China past and present through a concentrated exploration of China’s history, current social and political structures, language, arts and culture. Then we embark on an intense program of field work visiting a range of historical, cultural, political, and economic sites. Each term is organized around a theme designed to open to examination deeper layers of Chinese history, daily life, and practices. Themes have included the Silk Road, Food Culture, “One Belt, One Road” (yi dai yi lu 一带一路) . This course gives students an opportunity to meet the complex of things that we often call China and the diversity of folk that we often term “the Chinese” in person.
Classwork
Student Field work in China, 2014
I have had the great pleasure of organizing and leading Elmira College’s first study abroad in China course “China East to West-Past to Present.” This course begins on campus familiarizing the participants to China past and present through a concentrated exploration of China’s history, current social and political structures, language, arts and culture. Then we embark on an intense program of field work visiting a range of historical, cultural, political, and economic sites. Each term is organized around a theme designed to open to examination deeper layers of Chinese history, daily life, and practices. Themes have included the Silk Road, Food Culture, “One Belt, One Road” (yi dai yi lu 一带一路) . This course gives students an opportunity to meet the complex of things that we often call China and the diversity of folk that we often term “the Chinese” in person.
Classwork
Student Field work in China, 2016
I have had the great pleasure of organizing and leading Elmira College’s first study abroad in China course “China East to West-Past to Present.” This course begins on campus familiarizing the participants to China past and present through a concentrated exploration of China’s history, current social and political structures, language, arts and culture. Then we embark on an intense program of field work visiting a range of historical, cultural, political, and economic sites. Each term is organized around a theme designed to open to examination deeper layers of Chinese history, daily life, and practices. Themes have included the Silk Road, Food Culture, “One Belt, One Road” (yi dai yi lu 一带一路) . This course gives students an opportunity to meet the complex of things that we often call China and the diversity of folk that we often term “the Chinese” in person.
Classwork
Employees Recognized for Service and Dedication
On June 9, Elmira College employees gathered for the annual Recognition Breakfast. This annual event marks the end of the academic year and is a chance to honor colleagues for their years of service, congratulate those who received promotions, and say ...
June, 09 2022 - Verified by Elmira College
Elmira College Students Explore the Beauty of Japan in Elmira
Students in Mark Pitner's Term III course, Introduction to Museum Studies, spent the term exploring the history of a genre of Japanese print art called Shin Hanga or "New Print," that was most active from 1912 to 1950. The culmination of the students'...
June, 22 2021 - Verified by Elmira College
Pitner Presents at International Conference on Disabilities in Early China
Dr. Mark Pitner, associate professor of history at Elmira College, presented at the international workshop "OTHER BODIES: Disability and Bodily Impairment in Early and Medieval China" hosted by the Needham Research Institute and Cambridge University. ...
May, 17 2021 - Verified by Elmira College
Marjorie Wladis Elitzer, Class of 1939, Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa
Marjorie Wladis Elitzer, Class of 1939, was recently inducted into the Pi of New York chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Elmira College. Elitzer graduated from EC in 1939, one year prior to the installation of the Pi of New York chapter. "Late last year, I ...
March, 23 2021 - Verified by Elmira College
Woodblock Prints Exhibit to be Featured in Gannett-Tripp Library
Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies, Dr. Mark Pitner, spent Term III with his museum studies class learning about what it is like to be a museum curator, archivist, and exhibits coordinator. Students took to the Elmira College Archives to ...
May, 09 2019 - Verified by Elmira College