Jon Davidann

Biography

Dr. Jon Davidann is a professor of history at Hawai’i Pacific University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1995 in the United States and Japanese history.  He has published six books on various topics.  His book, The Limits of Westernization: American and East Asian Intellectuals Create Modernity, 1860-1960 (Routledge, 2019)  won the Kenneth W. Baldridge Prize in 2020.  Davidann’s highly regarded textbook entitled Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History (Pearson, 2012) will be published as a second edition in 2019 by Routledge.  Another monograph, Cultural Diplomacy in U.S.-Japanese Relations, 1919-1941 (Palgrave, 2007) studies the rise and eventual failure of U.S.-Japanese cultural diplomacy leading to the Pacific War.  Professor Davidann also published an edited book called Hawaii at the Crossroads of the U.S. and Japan before the Pacific War (University of Hawaii Press, 2008).  He has published articles in the Journal of World History and the Journal of American-East Asian Relations and has received numerous grants and fellowships to undertake his research projects.  

Davidann has given many invited lectures internationally. He gave the keynote Address at a Global History Conference in Istanbul in June 2018. He also served as a KAKENHI scholar in Japan in May 2017 and again in December 2018, and as a Fulbright Scholar in October 2017 in Ghent, Belgium. While in Belgium, he gave the keynote address at the conference Paradigms of Change in Modernising Asia and America at Ghent University and another keynote address as the Satsuma Chair at Catholic University in Leuven. Davidann studied at Oxford University as a visiting fellow in 2008. He teaches courses on American cultural diplomacy, global history, the history of oil and sustainability, and the history of economic crisis. Dr. Davidann’s brainchild, History Lens, a video podcast on ThinkTech Hawaii, takes on current concerns such as impeachment, white supremacy, immigration, gun control, and taxes, and puts them in historical perspective. He is co-host of the show along with Jay Fidell. He has a devoted following on LinkedIn where his History Lens video podcasts typically receive several thousand views.

Education

Ph. D in History

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

U.S-East Asian Relations, U.S. History, World History, Global History, Japanese History, Chinese History, Asian Studies

Personal Interests

Jon Davidann lives in Kailua with his wife Beth, son Eli, and their dog, Neilani. His hobbies are bicycling, SUP, and reading.

Books

Videos