Joseph F. Fletcher, Jr., usually referred to as Joseph Fletcher (1934–1984), was an American historian of China and Central Asia and a professor in the
East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department
East Asian studies is a distinct multidisciplinary field of scholarly enquiry and education that promotes a broad humanistic understanding of East Asia past and present. The field includes the study of the region's culture, written language, histo ...
of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. His main areas of research included interaction between the Islamic and Chinese worlds, Manchu and Mongol studies.
Biography
Fletcher graduated from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1957.
He received his PhD from Harvard's Department of Far Eastern Languages in 1965, and became an assistant professor within the department a year later. In 1972, he was appointed professor of Chinese and Central Asian History.
Fletcher died on June 14, 1984, at the age of 49. He died from complications due to cancer.
Personal life
Fletcher was the son of
Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...
, an ethicist. Fletcher had two children.
His son i
Edward Fletcher who played Sixth Officer
James Paul Moody
James Paul Moody (21 August 1887 – 15 April 1912) was the sixth officer of the and the only junior officer to die when the ship sank on her maiden voyage.
Early life
James Paul Moody was born in Scarborough, England, on 21 August 1887, t ...
in
Titanic (1997 film)
''Titanic'' is a 1997 American epic film, epic romance film, romance and disaster film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Incorporating both historical and fictionalized aspects, it is based on accounts of the Sinking ...
.
Notable works
Joseph Fletcher contributed several chapters ("
Ch'ing Inner Asia, c. 1800", and others) to vol. 10 of
The Cambridge History of China
''The Cambridge History of China'' is a series of books published by the Cambridge University Press (CUP) covering the history of China from the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC to 1982 AD. The series was conceived by British historian Den ...
:
*
Joseph Fletcher's posthumously published work, ''The Naqshbandiyya in Northwest China'' (Variorum, 1995), remains one of the main English-languages sources on the introduction of
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
into China, and is extensively cited by practically all books in English on
Islam in China
Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. Muslims are a minority group in China, representing 1.6-2 percent of the total population (21,667,000- 28,210,795) according to various estimates. Though Hui people, Hui Muslims are the ...
published since then.
References
External links
The Joseph Fletcher Memorial Lecture biography and bibliography.
American sinologists
Historians of Islam
Harvard University faculty
1934 births
1984 deaths
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
Mongolists
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Historians of Central Asia
20th-century American male writers
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