David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026As part of Uyghur Solidarity Month, Amnesty International are screening Echoes of Home, a documentary by David Tobin and Mirshad Ghalip. The panel discussion afterwards includes Kabir Qurban. I hope you can join us. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/echoes-of-...eventbrite.co.ukEchoes of Home - Live Documentary Screening and Panel DiscussionEchoes of Home is a film about the Uyghur American Cup and its deep significance to Uyghur diaspora communities. 153
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 16/07/2026A lack of knowledge drives positive international opinion towards the CCP. 021
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 13/07/2026"The case of Turkey demonstrates that China’s repertoire of transnational repression operates in interaction with the host state’s administrative and ideological apparatus, and that this repressive architecture progressively erodes the diaspora’s security" www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...tandfonline.comThe politics of debilitation: host state authoritarianism and China’s transnational repression in TurkeyAuthoritarian regimes increasingly rely on transnational repression to silence exiled dissidents, yet we know far less about how host state authoritarianization shapes these practices and restructu... 021
Reposted by David TobinDavid Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Withdrawal of formal support for language and cultural education is already risks turning minority languages into “kitchen languages” something @geraldroche.bsky.social has written eloquently about (link below). The new law would potentially go further www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501... /8cornellpress.cornell.eduThe Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet by Gerald Roche | Paperback | Cornell University PressIn The Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet, Gerald Roche sheds light on a global crisis of linguistic diversity that will see at least half of the world's languages disappear this century. Roche.... 152
Reposted by David TobinPEN International @peninternational.bsky.social · 13/07/2026#China: Nine years after Liu Xiaobo’s death in state custody, we join the Independent Chinese PEN Centre and PEN America in calling for the release of writers imprisoned for free expression. Read the joint statement ⬇️ www.pen-international.org/news/china-n...pen-international.orgChina: nine years after Liu Xiaobo’s death in custody, risks for writers persist — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide‘Liu Xiaobo embodied nonviolent resistance with a lifetime of hardship, sacrificing his own liberty to unveil the grim reality of a populace deprived of freedom. In his final journey toward death, wha... 133
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 13/07/2026"我没有敌人" youtu.be/2VUfQ9LfN5Yyoutu.beNo Enemies - Liu XiaoboYouTube video by Front Line Defenders 000
Reposted by David TobinAlex Dukalskis @alexdukalskis.bsky.social · 09/07/2026New review article now available in @govandopp.bsky.social open access: @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social and I analyse the vast and diverse scholarly literature on authoritarian regimes extending their influence abroad.cambridge.orgTransnational Authoritarianism | Government and Opposition | Cambridge CoreTransnational Authoritarianism - Volume 61 0249
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 05/07/2026The Party's Working Group meetings after the events of July 5th and 7th 2009 were the key turning point in China's ethnic policy shift towards violent assimilation. xinjiang.sppga.ubc.ca/chinese-sour...xinjiang.sppga.ubc.ca50 Whys - Xinjiang Documentation Project‘The 50 Whys: Protecting National Unification, Opposing Ethnic Separatism, Strengthening Ethnic Unity Study Book’ For Original Materials, find here 50个’为什么’ Introduction Following violent clashes betw... 001
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 11/06/2026Sorry but debates between different London-centric perspectives is really not what will help people in Belfast right now. 020
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 30/05/2026"I will not translate your emotions" is quite the metaphor. Political filtering processes on Chinese perspectives help keep debates on China in the UK superficial and fantastical. 000
Reposted by David TobinChenchen Zhang 🤦🏻♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 11/05/2026Just published! My book, Easting the West: Theorizing the Postliberal Conjuncture from China, is now available online for institutional users with subscription to Oxford Scholarship Online! academic.oup.com/book/62722 The print version will come out next month. 711043
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 06/05/2026INCCS is hosting an online seminar on May 13th regarding "Academic Freedom and China". I hope to see some of you there. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/academic-f...eventbrite.co.ukAcademic Freedom and ChinaExperts will reflect on recent developments in Chinese universities considering implications for research, teaching, and collaboration. 111
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 12/04/2026This will happen again and again if the left and right continue to project their ethnocentric geopolitical fantasies on an ignored people who ask for recognition on their own terms. 042
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 11/03/2026I think many scholars in this area have been quiet because the ethnic unity law is primarily a culmination of existing practices that have already been documented. 122
Reposted by David Tobineast-ulb.bsky.social @east-ulb.bsky.social · 03/02/2026NEW PUBLICATION *Just out!* Vanessa Frangville and Sonya Imin explore visual art in the Uyghur diaspora and how artists respond to China's cultural engineering in the Uyghur region. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....tandfonline.comDecolonizing Uyghur visual art: Uyghur diasporic responses to China’s cultural engineeringVisual art has become a prominent form of artistic expression in the Uyghur diasporic communities since the Chinese state has intensified its campaign of intrusive surveillance and mass internment ... 022
Reposted by David TobinChenchen Zhang 🤦🏻♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 05/12/2025when you thought you'd seen the wildest racial discourse online and there's always something more. saw this on X and FB today. so it's saying - racism depends on perceived attractiveness or lack thereof - physiognomy of imaginary subgroups of Han Chinese, 6539
Reposted by David TobinDavid Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 18/11/2025Excited for the launch of @drdavidtobin.bsky.social’s International Network for Critical China Studies (INCCS)! Now more than ever there’s a need for rigorous, reflective, critically-informed research on China. INCCS’s mission to avoid clunky, knee-jerk commentary is refreshing & desperately needed 154
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 18/11/2025sheffield.ac.uk/las/news/new...sheffield.ac.ukNew website launched for the International Network for Critical China Studies (INCCS)The International Network for Critical China Studies (INCCS), led by Dr David Tobin, has launched its website, bringing together researchers from around the world to share critical, policy-relevant wo... 020
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 18/11/2025Policymakers and the media need rigorous research by independently minded scholars to make sense of Chinese politics and society. INCCS will tackle the big and difficult questions about "China's rise". 185
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 15/11/2025张海洋 (2006) 简论中国化与和谐社会 Zhang Haiyang (2006) 'On Sinicisation and Harmonious Society' 但由于旧的发展观对多元民族文化采用双重标准:一方面提倡和推广个别民族(西方发达国家)的文化价值,说那是人类的必由之路和必然归宿;一方面又期待另一些民族(往往是国内少数民族)的文化(特别是其语言,宗教和认同意识)谈化或消亡,说那都是发展的拦路虎,绊脚石或紧箍咒,要尽早摆脱才能实现发展。 110
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 13/11/2025The status and rights of Uyghur communities in Turkiye are deeply precarious, and overlooked by researchers and civil society organisations since 2017. It's now being more fully documented. www.hrw.org/report/2025/...hrw.orgProtected No MoreThe 51-page report, “Protected No More: Uyghurs in Türkiye,” finds that Uyghurs’ previous access to international protection status, and indeed preferential treatment under the Turkish immigration sys... 243
Reposted by David TobinSam Crane @uselesstree.bsky.social · 08/11/2025Joe Fewsmith RIP For me, this was one of his most significant contributions: 1102
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 08/11/2025Are nations ancient or modern? "从80年代初开始,在中国古代文献中搜检“民族”一词的努力一直在进行..." "Since the early 1980s, efforts to search for the term "nation" in ancient Chinese texts have been ongoing..." Hao Shiyuan (2004) 中文“民族“一词源流考辨 ('An Examination of the Origin of the Chinese Term, minzu') 021
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 24/10/2025This is not a party political issue. No government has adequately addressed the intent or methods in play here. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukChina spy case witness removed 'enemy' from evidence under ToriesSecurity adviser Matthew Collins says the term 010
Reposted by David TobinWilliam A. Callahan 柯嵐安 @billcallahan.bsky.social · 18/10/2025Amazing news! "The Nose Knows: Foreignness and Fortune in China" was just selected by Little Venice Film Festival (London 22-28 October) via FilmFreeway.com! 183
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 01/09/2025Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I was asked to write an essay on Russia's relations with China. I did and I argued that this would happen. The essay was subsequently withdrawn by the publisher on the grounds that it was "off topic". edition.cnn.com/2025/09/01/c...edition.cnn.comXi and Putin stand shoulder to shoulder as China casts itself as an alternative global leader | CNNChinese leader Xi Jinping made a veiled swipe at the United States on Monday as he criticized “bullying practices” and cast his country as a new leader of world governance, at a time when President Do... 020
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 15/08/2025Obviously British universities are underfunded but political interference by China's party-state is also very real. www.scmp.com/opinion/worl... 230
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 12/08/2025🚨 New research report 🚨 “Preventing Transnational Repression: the case of the Uyghur diaspora” By David Tobin and @nyrolaelima.bsky.social sites.google.com/sheffield.ac... 182
Reposted by David TobinDavid Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 11/08/202521 years later and this reads almost like prophecy. 073
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 11/08/20252004. "The dynamics of penetration and resistance between the centre and what still remains an indigenous periphery can be expected to generate at the same time both increased sinicization and increased ethno-national unrest." www.jstor.org/stable/20192...jstor.org Staged Development in Xinjiang on JSTOR Nicolas Becquelin, Staged Development in Xinjiang, The China Quarterly, No. 178, China's Campaign to "Open Up the West": National, Provincial and Local Perspectives (Jun., 2004), pp. 358-378 044
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 09/08/2025The discussion on Chinese political interference in British academia is long overdue. But it will all be hot air if practical resources, support, and legal protections are not provided to those who are actually doing the work. www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-...spectator.co.ukCan 'China Studies' still be trusted?It is generally agreed that Britain needs to improve its China capabilities. But what happens when institutions responsible for building those capabilities are compromised by the Chinese Communist Par... 010
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 09/08/2025Following the illegal deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China, artists are being censored in Thailand to avoid telling their stories of persecution and survival. www.reuters.com/world/china/...reuters.comExclusive: Thai gallery removes China-focused artworks after 'pressure' from BeijingIn what artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre changed multiple works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders. 011
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 05/08/2025The survey demonstrates that there are sharply differentiated experiences in Chinese Studies depending what you research and how. I would like to hear more answers about how to enable those who do have those experiences to speak safely and less from those who have not engaged with those experiences. 150
Reposted by David Tobin利大英 @gblee.bsky.social · 04/08/2025#China #UK ukctransparency.org/wp-content/u... 063
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 31/07/2025It is tragic that the Joint Committee on Human Rights did not mention Uyghurs. They are a key target for transnational repression and receive almost no support. news.sky.com/story/author...news.sky.comAuthoritarian states operating with impunity to silence dissidents in UK, report findsChina, Russia and Iran were the biggest perpetrators of transnational repression but several other countries are trying to silence dissidents. 031
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 29/07/2025In June 2025, academics and civil society organisations met in London for an International Network for Critical China Studies workshop to analyse how to prevent transnational repression. Governments & NGOs have not paid enough attention to TNR and need to do much more to protect people's rights. 184
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 26/07/2025In my undergraduate classes, you have to do the reading before commenting. You also have to analyse evidence by asking, why is this person saying this? Who is their intended audience? What verifiable evidence do they have for their statements? Repeating what people say is not analysis. 030
Reposted by David TobinXinjiang Victims Database @shahit.biz · 07/11/2024We've added a fundamental new feature/direction today, in which we'll be sharing, translating, and automatically validating various internal documents: shahit.biz/eng/#internal 1127
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 21/07/2025Princeton University Press has yet to apologise for using politicised language and state narratives (e.g., 多元一体) that justify the elimination of group identities that the CCP does not approve. thediplomat.com/2025/07/prin... 040
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 21/07/2025A generous interpretation is that the CCP/CPC 'debate' used to be a squabble over whether to emphasise socialism in one country or an international movement. Now it's a manufactured distraction to attract people who can't read Chinese. 271
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 19/07/2025Xi Jinping's "people's war on terror" differed significantly. CCP docs outline how it uses mass mobilisation, more intense surveillance, and detention for pre-crimes 👇 sheffield.ac.uk/las/research...sheffield.ac.ukThe “Xinjiang Papers”: How Xi Jinping commands policy in the People’s Republic of ChinaThis report shows how “the Xinjiang papers” reveal the centralised decision-making processes behind mass mobilisation, mass detention, and dispersal of Uyghur and other Turkic-speaking Muslim communit... 0102
Reposted by David TobinNate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 02/07/2025CDT is hands-down one of the most important public resources available for trying to understand China 3128
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 30/06/2025After a Chinese government sponsored tour, Princeton University Press uses explicitly political language to celebrate party-state policies that removed the Uyghur language from the education system. If you are interested in what 多元一体 means in practice, chapter 2 of my book covers this 👇 272
Reposted by David TobinDavid Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 29/06/2025🧵: It’s worth unpacking how the lines that PUP draws almost verbatim from party-state propaganda— most notably about “telling the story” of Xinjiang, which echoes Xi’s call to “tell the China story well” — have very specific applications to task the denial of abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslims 26323
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 04/06/2025So much has changed since 1989 六四 chinaheritage.net/journal/iron...chinaheritage.net‘Ironic Points of Light’ — acts of redemption on the blank pages of historyXi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium Appendix XXV 贖 '... it’s like a child at the beach. You give them a shovel. They'll make a hole and a hill and work at it all day. 020
Reposted by David TobinXinjiang Victims Database @shahit.biz · 01/06/2025We've published a short listicle of eyewitness points about camps and factories in 2018-2019, as delivered by an anonymous camp employee to a journalist during that period: blog.shahit.biz/2025/06/01/1... Very short read, but insightful.blog.shahit.biz10 small insights into Xinjiang camps and factories (2018-2019)A brief summary of takeaway points from a conversation between a former camp employee and a journalist, originally held off the record but now reproduced here in a very basic form. 01214
Reposted by David TobinDavid Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 29/05/2025Was really privileged to see a screening of @drdavidtobin.bsky.social and Mirshad Ghalip’s “Echoes of Home” at this year’s AAS. Really excited to see that the trailer for it is getting a wide release. An excellent, funny, touching and thought provoking film.youtu.beEchoes of Home Extended PreviewYouTube video by Mirshad Ghalip & David Tobin 051