David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Amnesty's Uyghur Solidarity Month is organised by the ever-dedicated @emilyupson.bsky.social because "atrocity prevention must remain an urgent priority far beyond the headlines" and "to allow activists to learn from and support a range of Uyghur people." www.amnesty.org.uk/get-involved...amnesty.org.ukUyghur Solidarity Month: why we're building a movement this AugustLearn all about Uyghur Solidarity Month this August – a new form of Amnesty campaign for all activists around the world to join and support. 042
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 · 06/05/2026sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comHomeThe International Network for Critical China Studies (INCCS) 000
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 · 25/03/2026The funny part is the projection of assumptions about people's identity that you don't know on issues that need serious discussion. It makes me think of Rofel's Desiring China - how our desires for the world to be how we imagined it to be constrain our ability to see the world and connect w/ others. 100
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
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 15/01/2026Amazing photo. Thanks for posting. You're not wrong about syncretic belief systems in general but there is a whole chapter (72) on the Jinn in the Qur'an. 010
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 · 18/11/2025Contact me by email or DM if you have a proposal for a research publication or co-hosted events. @billcallahan.bsky.social @timothyagrose.bsky.social @kasgarlikarluk.bsky.social @astridnordin.bsky.social @ericschluessel.bsky.social @davidstroup.bsky.social @htheaker.bsky.social 031
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 18/11/2025INCCS is an independent network of scholars, united by a commitment to critical analysis and academic freedom in the study of contemporary China. sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comWho is INCCS?Who is INCCS? INCCS is an independent network of scholars who research and write about the politics, economy, and society of China, united by a commitment to academic freedom, truth-telling, and cri... 130
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 18/11/2025INCCS provides a platform for knowledge exchange and impact by hosting research based workshop events. sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comEvents 122
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 18/11/2025INCCS publishes detailed policy reports on the politics, economy, and society of contemporary China by scholars with research track records of using up-to-date primary sources. sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comPolicy ReportsPolicymakers and the media need to hear from independent voices who rigorously research and openly document the most pressing geopolitical and social issues of the 21st century. The International Netw... 120
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"On the other, there is an expectation that the cultures of other ethnic groups (often minorities), especially their languages, religions, and sense of identity, will fade away, saying they are all obstacles to development, and that can only be achieved by getting rid of them as soon as possible." 000
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 15/11/2025"The old development concept applied a double standard to diverse ethnic cultures: on the one hand, it advocated and promoted the cultural values of certain ethnic groups (developed Western countries), claiming that it was the inevitable path and destination for humanity." 100
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 · 13/11/2025sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comPreventing Transnational Repression: the case of the Uyghur diasporaPreventing Transnational Repression: the case of the Uyghur diaspora By David Tobin and Nyrola Elimä Open Access Download (August 2025) Abstract Transnational repression is increasingly used by aut... 010
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 13/11/2025sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.com"We know you better than you know yourself": China's TNR of the Uyghur"We know you better than you know yourself": China’s transnational repression of the Uyghur diaspora By David Tobin and Nyrola Elimä Open Access Download (March 2023) Abstract Transnational repres... 000
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 · 20/08/2025Happy to recommend people who would likely be interested. 130
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 15/08/2025www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukChinese university students told to spy on classmates, report saysLecturers are also being harassed, the report finds, as ministers say threats will not be tolerated. 030
David Tobin @drdavidtobin.bsky.social · 15/08/2025www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...amnesty.orgChina: Overseas students face harassment and surveillance in campaign of transnational repressionChinese and Hong Kong students studying abroad are living in fear of intimidation, harassment and surveillance as Chinese authorities seek to prevent them from engaging with ‘sensitive’ or political i... 010
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 · 12/08/2025The report was discussed in detail at the Preventing Transnational Repression workshop and group recommendations are also available here: sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...sites.google.comEvents 020
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 · 11/08/2025The problem is that there is no practical solidarity but there is a lot of hostility. 020
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