Benjamin L. Read

Assistant Professor
Politics Department
Merrill Faculty Services
1156 High Street
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

office: 831-459-4469
fax: 831-459-3125
email: blread (at) ucsc (dot) edu
http://benread.net/

General

Office hours: As of 1/7/2010, Tuesdays & Thursdays 10-11:30, and by appointment, in 157 Merrill Faculty Annex

Institutional links: UC Santa Cruz | Politics Department

Curriculum vitae: [pdf]

My UCSC profile: [link]

Bio and photo: [link]

Maps: [area] [city] [campus] [college]

Research

Book: Roots of the State: Neighborhood Organization and Social Networks in Beijing and Taipei [ms nearing completion]

Edited book: Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia: Straddling State and Society [link]

Full overview of my work on local organizations in China and Taiwan, and on qualitative methods [link]

Commentary

Book reviews, interviews and essays [link]

Courses

2009-2010:

Course sites | How to read in college | What to call me? | absence form

Guidelines for presentations | guidelines for reading responses | checklist for all written work

Poli 141 Politics of China, Winter 2010 [syllabus]

Previously Taught:

Poli 143 Foreign Relations of China, Fall 2009 [syllabus]

Poli 060 Comparative Politics / Introduction to the Politics of the Developing World, Spring 2009 [syllabus]

Poli 200b Social Forces and Political Change, graduate seminar, Fall 2008 [syllabus]

030:390 Graduate Readings Course on Chinese Politics, Spring 2008 (U. of Iowa)

030:179 Human Rights and Asian Values, Fall 2007 (U. of Iowa) [syllabus]

030:347 Associations, Networks, and Trust in the Realm of Politics, graduate seminar, Fall 2006 (U. of Iowa) [syllabus]

030:173 Voluntary Organizations and Politics in Comparative Perspective, Fall 2005 (Georgetown U.) [syllabus]

030:029 First-Year Seminar: The Media vs. The Academy, Spring 2005 (co-taught, U. of Iowa) [syllabus]

Miscellaneous

Java tools for learning and maintaining Chinese: self-quizzes on traditional vs. simplified characters | Chinese surnames

VBA macros for Word: general | annotation

Notes on software that I use