Taig Dara Patton

Aloha~ Welcome to my site! My name is Taig Dara, or 檀文林. I am a historian of Modern China.

I began my academic journey studying Confucian thought, rhetoric, and pedagogy in Portland, Oregon. Then, I lived abroad in Beijing and Taipei studying Mandarin, teaching and translating, and exploring for several years.

I later returned to the USA to pursue additional training in modern Chinese political history and Chinese IR theory at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. At the same time, I worked as a researcher at a government think tank.

During COVID I decided to leave D.C. and I returned to teaching as a university lecturer while I applied to PhD programs. Presently, I am researching and teaching Modern Chinese history in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Department of History.

~ Ongoing Projects ~

The "China Compass" project includes a database of suggested readings related to modern Chinese history. 

You can sort by multiple categories to find just the right book for you!~

I am also working on an ecology of sinologists in the 20th and 21st century to help provide newcomers with the general trends in the academic study of China. 

Lastly, I am working on a comprehensive accounting of all major Confucian thinkers and their respective schools of thought.

My current research explores the genealogy of democratic theory in China, particularly Confucian Democracy, Consultative Democracy, and Illiberal Democracy. 

The project starts with the entry of Western ideas into China, then traces the lives of the leaders of the "Third Force" anti-war umbrella organization in 1940s China, and finally I examine the establishment of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference during the Chinese civil war.

This is one of my oldest and longest-running, but least documented, projects. 

This project includes the basic knowledge that I have accumulated along the way to the present. Among the topics included are: Global History, IR Theory, Social Science, Philosophy, etc. 

The through line that unites this category is the ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies that guide my overall research agenda.