Michel Oksenberg papers, 1960-2001

Summary

Creator:

Oksenberg, Michael, 1938-

Abstract:

Michel Oksenberg was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, and a specialist in China and Sino-American relations. His papers contain correspondence concerning professional activities, committee assignments, conferences; publications, project files, book reviews, and periodical articles; also interview notes with refugees from the People's Republic of China conducted in Hong Kong.

Extent:

68 linear feet

Language:

English

Call Number:

861112 Aa 2

Authors:

Finding aid created by Michael Evans and Darwin C. Matthews in 1981 and Lisa B. Hum in 1996.

Background

Scope and Content:

Michel Oksenberg papers document Oksenberg's activities as teacher, researcher, policy advisor, and business consultant, as well as his service on several national Chinese studies committees. The normalization of relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) had a profound impact on American sinologists; Oksenberg's papers provide an overview of Chinese studies before, during and after normalization, while also furnishing insight into the actual process of normalization.

Biographical / Historical:

Michel Charles Oksenberg was born October 12, 1938 in Antwerp, Belgium. He later emigrated to the United States where he was raised in Tallahassee, Florida, and where he became a naturalized citizen. Oksenberg graduated from Leon High School in Tallahassee in 1956, then went on to Swarthmore College, where he received a B.A. with honors in 1960, and then to Columbia University, where he received his M.A. in 1963 and his Ph.D. in 1969. As an undergraduate, he majored in political science, though he also studied philosophy and economics. At Columbia, he specialized in foreign political institutions (China, Japan, and the USSR) with a minor in American government. He learned Chinese and French at this time.

Oksenberg began his professional career at Stanford University as acting assistant professor of political science (1966-1968). He then returned to Columbia as assistant professor (1968-1971) and later was associate professor (1971-1974) in that college's East Asian Institute. In 1973, he took on added responsibilities as adjunct associate professor at the University of Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies, and in 1974, he was appointed associate professor at the University of Michigan.

Oksenberg's principle interest as a scholar has been in the government and institutions of the People's Republic of China (PRC). His dissertation at Columbia concerned local and rural government in China, and he has since authored numerous articles and book reviews in the field. He traveled to China in 1964-1965, and again in 1971-1972, and while there, he studied at the Universities Service Center in Kowloon (Hong Kong) and made contacts with a number of Chinese scholars. Oksenberg made numerous subsequent trips to China.

Since 1968, Oksenberg has served on both the executive committee and the board of directors of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations. From 1970 to 1974, he was a member of the board of directors of the Association for Asian Studies, and since 1971, he has been on the Council of Foreign Relations. He has been a consultant to the Rand Corporation (1967-1973) and the Ford Foundation (1971), and was a member of the Preliminary Screening Committee of the Foreign Area Fellowship Program for Asia (1967-1971). He has served on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals, including China Quarterly (1970- ), Chinese Law and Government (1970- ), and the Journal of Asian Studies (1972- ). He belongs to the American Political Science Association and has participated in the Social Science Research Council (particularly its Joint Committee on Contemporary China). He has also been a managing member of the executive board of Swarthmore College.

In 1977, Oksenberg took a two-year leave of absence from the University of Michigan to become a member of the National Security Council, where he was actively involved with the normalization of relations between the U.S. and PRC governments. He returned to the University in February 1980 and continued to advise the executive branch on matters of east Asian foreign policy until 1981.

Oksenberg served as director of the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies from 1989 to 1991. He left Michigan in January 1992 to become President of the East-West Center, a federally finances research and training institute in Honolulu, Hawaii. From 1995 until his death in 2001, Oksenberg was associated with the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

Acquisition Information:

The papers of Professor Oksenberg (Donor No. 6466 ) have been received in various accessions, between 1980 and 2002.

Arrangement:

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Academic and Professional Files; Publication Files; Course Materials; Student Files; University of Michigan Files; Research and Other Projects; Consulting; Topical Files; Photographs; and China - Special Files.

Accruals:

No further additions to the papers are expected.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Names:

University of Michigan. Dept. of Political Science.
University of Michigan -- Faculty.
Oksenberg, Michel, 1938-

Places:

China -- History -- 1949-
United States -- Foreign relations -- China.