tricky static generic method with generic return type which itself could be a generic

I have a class as follows: ``` public class MyConverter { public <T> T convert (Object o, String typeidentifier, T dummy) { ... do some conversions such as a java array to an ArrayList or vice versa ... based on a typeidentifier syntax similar to Class.getName() but which ... embeds information about generic subtypes } } ``` and want to be able to do something general like this: ``` int[] ar = {...}; ArrayList<Integer> dummy = null; Integer elem = MyConverter.convert(ar, "java.util.ArrayList<Integer>", dummy) .get(15); ``` That is, the `T` in convert may itself be a generic instance, and I found that to get this goal to work, I have to pass a fully typed dummy, as `ArrayList.class` won't give the java compiler enough information that it is an `ArrayList<Integer>` if I used `Class<T> dummycls` instead of `T dummy`. Am I missing something? Is there a way to both write and invoke convert without requiring a dummy?