Dr. Pierre Fuller, Interviewed.

This piece was originally written as a draft for The University of Manchester's student-run History department magazine The Manchester Historian. 

Dr. Pierre Fuller, newly-appointed East Asian Historian took his time out to speak to me about his research, finding work in a foreign country and a Toilet General. 

Dr. Fuller, once a student of Literature & Theology, describes the influence behind his interest in East Asia as “the part of the world that was furthest from what I knew.” This inherent curiosity that guided Dr. Fuller's early career motivations led him to spend, in his words, “a good chunk of my twenties wandering around, really, trying different things”, even trying his hand at the underground film scene. However, it wasn't until a young Dr. Fuller pitched up in China with the objective “to try my hand at freelance journalism” that his interest in East Asia became a professional occupation. Fuller's reasoning behind this shows savvy decision-making: “The idea was to go to a part of the world that was somewhat under-reported, in other words a part of the world where a news room would be excited to get news copy.” Now, of course, China is anything but under-reported, but Dr. Fuller was somewhat ahead of the curve in this instance. “I got some contacts in a few newsrooms around the world, mainly in Tokyo at the Japan Times, and wrote stories from China, using an interpreter because I had no Chinese at the time (sic)."

How can Manchester History students (and History students in general) learn from Dr. Fuller's foray into journalism? For Fuller, it's about “the ability to manage an uncomfortable environment and find a story; what a newspaper wants to read.” According to Fuller, his experience in journalism helped open up fellowship opportunities “for people who can demonstrate an ability to put out academic work that you can put out there for the wider public”, his journalistic portfolio clearly assisted him in this, and he was able to say “Hey, I’m gonna take this degree beyond the academic world”.

Dr. Fuller's current research focus is humanitarianism in China, specifically “disasters in the 20^th Century and try to figure out how communities were responding to ecological crises, famines and things like that”. He doesn't want his work to become a “sort of dry dissertation aimed at the academic community”, however. Fuller's aim is to turn his research “into something that can actually sit on a bookshelf and that people are willing to throw some pounds at.” So, what's his angle? “One particular story I’m thinking of going after is one about a Warlord character, who today is called a ‘Toilet General’ in popular Chinese parlance”, he says, “Literally the ‘Toilet General’ is what this guy is called because he famously carried around a portable toilet on the field of battle for whatever bizarre reason.” At this point I'm thinking Dr. Fuller sounds a bit 'potty', but he assures me that historical figures such as Martin Luther and Lyndon Baines Johnson shared the warlord's curious habit. If historical quirks of that nature are your cup of tea, be sure to look out for Dr. Pierre Fuller's work in future. Hopefully more than just toilet reading material.

- Michael John Cass @michaeljohncass