The following caveats apply to most if not all of my A&S classes. 

I am:

1. An autodidact with more enthusiasm than skill or time.  I am eager for factual corrections and opportunities for further research. 

2. Uncomfortable with ethonyms; they get overused and mislead.  Identity is a complex topic. Even today many individuals assert multiple identities. The notion of ascribing attributes to an ethnonym for which we have limited records is... defensible only because the alternative is worse.

3. Cautious/skeptical at any simple treatment of the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty was and is fascinating, but some of the people fascinated are not constrained by historical discipline, and others are overtly trying to hijack the history of the Han dynasty to serve modern agendas.  I don't want to get into the current politics but (a) I try to be responsible when I refer to the Han, and (b) I recommend the counsel of Excellency Caitriona MacDhonnachaidh, "I'd like to see their documentation".   (you need to hear it said...)

4. Oversimplifying multiple complicated topics.  My goal is brevity at the expense of depth. All education is at best All Models Are Wrong and more likely to be Lies told  to children.  When you try to summarize research into an hour or so, the abstraction will omit nuance.  Taxonomy is the enemy of truth.  This is a corrollary to several items above, but is worth mentioning. Assigning things to categories greatly facilitates learning. But doing so abstracts away much of what makes that thing interesting.   Learning is a dialogue between abstraction and reification.  But in a lecture or a paper I can really only abstract. I do my best to point out opportunities for further research.

5. History is a verb; the act of enquiry.  All assumptions are in constant re-examination.

6. Slides with a blue background or text with a blue highlight are opportunities for further research (Could be yours)

7. Yellow background indicates a case study ; discussion is encouraged

8. Rose is a backup slide or topic; topics that are too precious to cut, but not central enough to invest limited time.  

Agenda

Some thoughts on future work

1. What can be thrown from a horse? - a display of thrown weapons along with documentation 

2. I'd like to build a stand that would support multiple obstacles for equestrian games.

3. Fall university class on documentable historical riding

4. I'd like to build a document/database/something  (derivative of TI 134) that catalogues all the equestrian challenges, and for each discusses

   1. Setup/ground crew instructions

   2. Historic documentation

   3. How to emphasize the martial elements (if you are riding heads, is your sword stroke authentic?)

   4. How to emphasize the riding elements (if you're riding heads, are you balanced, are you crossing at the midpoint, etc.)

   5. How to emphasize the performance elements? how to make it pretty and photography.