Dear colleagues and friends,
Hope you are doing well and enjoying the start of the holiday season. Please
join me in welcoming a new member to the SSYCDS and listserv, Martijn Knapen.
Below please find Martjin's self introduction. Welcome to our community!
My name is Martijn Knapen and I am doctoral researcher in the
Archaeolinguistic Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for
Geoanthropology. I hold a BA in linguistics from Leiden University and an
MA in Linguistic diversity and digital humanities from the University of
Helsinki. My research focuses on the history of the Indigenous peoples of
the Lower and Middle Amur and Sakhalin island, starting from prehistory to
the early Soviet period. Belonging to the periphery of different states,
this region generally only entered into the historical records through
specific key events like the Yuan invasion of Sakhalin. Consequently,
information on the peoples of this section of the Amur River Basin is
generally vague or scarce. In my research, I use language and historical
linguistic methods to elucidate how these peoples interacted with each
other and the peoples around them and endeavour to clarify their place in
the history of the Liao, Jin and subsequent dynasties, into whose territory
the Amur River Basin was nominally or fully incorporated. I compliment my
findings with insights from other fields such as history, anthropology,
archaeology and genetics.
Sincerely,
Ya Zuo
Secretary, Society for Song, Yuan, and Conquest Dynasties Studies