
The History of Chinese Restaurants in America - Thevet
http://www.processhistory.org/?p=130
======
unwind
That sounds very interesting, food-related geekery is fun in my world.

I loved this quote:

 _For example, in my fourth year—so well into the research phase—I took a
digital cartography course because I had the address book of a man I was
studying and I wanted to understand his spatial relationships with the people
in the book. The course on ArcGIS, a digital cartography software, allowed me
to make maps that shaped my close-readings of this man’s letters._

I wonder how large a fraction of the worlds' historians run ArcGIS? No
disrespect intended if it's a household name of course, I was just impressed
by the application of tools to her field of research. Neat.

~~~
bane
FYI, qGIS is a pretty good free replacement. Not drop in good, but not too bad
either.

[http://www2.qgis.org/en/site/](http://www2.qgis.org/en/site/)

Falconview is another option
[https://www.falconview.org/trac/FalconView](https://www.falconview.org/trac/FalconView)

~~~
thoughtpalette
Thanks for these! I didn't know there were alternatives to ArcGIS.

~~~
bane
Sure, it's been a few years since I tried qGIS. I remember it being okay for
layering shape files and a couple other tasks but not too much else.

However, It looks like they've done a ton of work to it in the intervening
years.

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triplesec
This is a wonderful blog, highlighting some of the strengths of good fortune
and good practice in academic research. The author sought out other
disciplines and ideas and was rewarded for them, and isn't afraid to cross the
mythical qualitative-quantitative method lines.

Method is what you learn in PhD school if you do it right. Not following the
one methods of a narrow advisor, although that's useful to grok politically as
well, but to search out other forms and frames and ways of looking at the
phenomena that you wish to examine.

There is still a lot of dogma over methodology in schools, even in supposedly
interdisciplinary ones like communication schools. The wisest of the academics
transcend the political lines of epistemology and examine for themselves what
makes sense or not, and end up discovering awesome new things. I'm so glad
this one is on her way to more fascinating and unusual insights!

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smackfu
If you are interested in more on the subject, there's a pretty good book, the
Fortune Cookie Chronicles.

[http://www.amazon.com/The-Fortune-Cookie-Chronicles-
Adventur...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Fortune-Cookie-Chronicles-
Adventures/dp/0446698970)

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platz
> I strongly urge doctoral candidates in history to seek out non-historical
> methods in the form of mini-courses and institutes

I wonder how one would make the a similar but opppsite case to techies; to
take interest in the world outside of tech such that your work has broader
value.

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jasonjei
I liked this passage:

 _I found this transformation both puzzling and intriguing because Chinese
food became popular among Americans during an era of pervasive anti-Chinese
sentiment._

Similarly Mexican food is very popular in a period of anti-Mexican
sentiment...

~~~
zghst
There isn't much of an anti-Mexican sentiment but a sentiment against non-
American Hispanics plopping down here illegally and telling American people
how their immigration policy should be while straining our systems, brazenly
breaking laws, etc.

How does one proclaim to be for American citizenship when they can't speak the
language? Or know of its history? Or rally for a free American citizenship
while waving the flags of their home country while demonizing Americans who
disagree with them? Why should America be the only country that should
forcibly open up its borders to third world opportunist?

~~~
joshuapants
Which language should they learn? Keep in mind that there is no official
language in the US.

~~~
zghst
To understand and interact with 99% of Americans, you need to know English.
Pretending that English isn't a solid part of the American fabric is silly.

