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Jeff Wasserstrom

@jwassers

Teaches history at UCI, writes on China for the TLS, LARB, Dissent, WSJ, & other venues, 1st book on East AND Southeast Asia came out in June from Columbia Global Reports https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-milk-tea-alliance

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05.10.2023
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Latest posts by Jeff Wasserstrom @jwassers

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Fear and Writing in Xinjiang: On Tahir Hamut Izgil’s “Waiting to Be Arrested at Night” and Perhat Tursun’s “The Backstreets” | Los Angeles Review of Books Fear and Writing in Xinjiang: On Tahir Hamut Izgil’s “Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide” and Perhat Tursun’s “The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang.”

The essay reviews Tahir Hamut Izgil's "Waiting to be Arrested at Night" (tr. @jlfreeman.bsky.social freeman.bsky.social) and "The Backstreets" by Perhat Tursun (tr. @dbyler.bsky.social r.bsky.social). If you haven't read them, please do!

The essay can be found here 👇

10.03.2026 19:15 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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LARB Quarterly #48: 15th Anniversary Issue | Los Angeles Review of Books

Thrilled that my essay, "Fear and Writing in Xinjiang," was chosen by the editors of the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social to be included in their 15th Anniversary Anthology!

Thanks to @jwassers.bsky.social and @bspivey.bsky.social for commissioning the piece and for their editorial work!

10.03.2026 19:15 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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Just arrived SFO, speaking on my Milk Tea Alliance book at Berkeley at 5pm (Dwinelle Hall 370), on to Vancouver tomorrow, part of this UBC event Thursday afternoon sppga.ubc.ca/events/event... (& AAS panel on dystopia on Saturday 8:30am)

10.03.2026 18:48 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
UBC

I'll be in Vancouver March 11-14, part of a UBC event on Thursday (with @wjhurst.bsky.social Lynette Ong & Taomu Zhou) sppga.ubc.ca/events/event... ) & on Sat at 8:30 an @asianstudies.org roundtable about dystopia w @louisalim.bsky.social @turtelista.bsky.social Bill Callahan & Adam Brookes

08.03.2026 22:31 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

👇 @fromtga.bsky.social @hofrench.bsky.social @yilingliu95.bsky.social

08.03.2026 16:17 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

👇 Endorsements for my little primer ( details here www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/Product/Jeff... ) that Bui Jones Books is bringing out soon in various parts of the world (not U.S., hope to have word soon about a separate North American edition); delighted by the range of blurbers and what they write

08.03.2026 00:28 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1

👇 Endorsements for my little primer ( details here www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/Product/Jeff... ) that Bui Jones Books is bringing out soon in various parts of the world (not U.S., hope to have word soon about a separate North American edition); delighted by the range of blurbers and what they write

08.03.2026 00:28 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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Photo from a London friend, first copy of my VERY little new book (primer on China in the Xi Era), out March 24 in Europe/Asia/Australia only (hoping to have a North American edition in the future), nice blurbs by @taniabranigan.bsky.social @davidmoserbeijing.bsky.social Victor Mallet & Cindy Yu

07.03.2026 17:10 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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In Vancouver on March 12 (for Association for Asian Studies or otherwise)? The University of British Columbia's 2026 Indo-Pacific Symposium brings together world-leading scholars and practitioner... In Vancouver on March 12 (for Association for Asian Studies or otherwise)? The University of British Columbia's 2026 Indo-Pacific Symposium brings together world-leading scholars and practitioners fo...

Heading up the west coast next week, speaking at Berkeley March 10th ( events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/... ), in Vancouver March 11-14, for @asianstudies.org meetings, going to UBC eve of the 11th (to watch Helen Siu's film) & during the day on the 12th (for this www.linkedin.com/posts/kaiost... )

06.03.2026 17:58 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Excavating a History Already Found A carved stone discovered in Qinghai Province in 2020 drew wide attention in June 2025 when a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences proposed that it was an inscription from the reign…

Big @madeinchinajournal.com essay by @tristangbrown.bsky.social on China's "archeological state," in which the Party-state uses the excavation and display of artifacts to bolster its claims to civilizational and historical continuity.

16.01.2026 12:15 👍 21 🔁 13 💬 1 📌 1
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Calls for Papers Calls for Papers Here you can find the call for papers for the journal issues we are currently working on. The initial pitches should be no longer than 300 words and explain the key argument of your p...

|| NEW CALL FOR PAPERS || To mark the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s death, we are planning an issue on memories and lessons from the Mao era. We invite contributions revisiting overlooked experiences, questioning established interpretations, or reflecting on what Maoist China can teach us today.

04.03.2026 06:14 👍 18 🔁 15 💬 1 📌 1

New event!
📆10th March
🕔5pm

At Berkeley in Dwinelle Hall 370 @jwassers.bsky.social gives talk "Symbols and Songs in East and Southeast Asian Youth Movements"

Or how memes, music & pop culture brought the #MilkTeaAlliance together* 😁

Details:
events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...

05.03.2026 21:23 👍 8 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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My latest, @asia.nikkei.com co-write on a key difference between the official handling of Beijing's 1989 & Hong Kong's 2019 in today's PRC (w/a focus on a National Security Law exhibit in Hong Kong's Museum of History) asia.nikkei.com/opinion/beij... cc @ageofrevolutions.bsky.social @historians.org

03.03.2026 22:28 👍 15 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
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One week from today, Dwinelle Hall 370, the building where I first studied the history of the symbolism of struggles as a history grad student in the 1980s, 5pm start, March 10 events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/... — cc @nilsgilman.bsky.social

04.03.2026 03:55 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 2
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Beijing spins its narrative of history in today's Hong Kong Museum exhibit extols suppression of 2019 protests, celebrates National Security Law

"In our digital age, as completely erasing memory seems less and less feasible, an increasingly attractive solution for autocrats is to proactively refashion narratives in a brazen way that suits the state's objectives." Victoria Jones & @jwassers.bsky.social on history in Hong Kong (and the US).

04.03.2026 12:15 👍 12 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 1

My latest in the LARB: how the hukou and gaokao systems converge.

04.03.2026 22:17 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Independent bookstores in China differentiate themselves from the state-owned Xinhua Bookstore& other privately owned shops through an emphasis on the free exchange of ideas.

We're seeking reviewers to engage with this book. If interested,pls email t@asiancha.com.

cup.columbia.edu/book/cultura...

04.03.2026 16:29 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

Congratulations!

04.03.2026 14:46 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
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One week from today, Dwinelle Hall 370, the building where I first studied the history of the symbolism of struggles as a history grad student in the 1980s, 5pm start, March 10 events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/... — cc @nilsgilman.bsky.social

04.03.2026 03:55 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 2
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My latest, @asia.nikkei.com co-write on a key difference between the official handling of Beijing's 1989 & Hong Kong's 2019 in today's PRC (w/a focus on a National Security Law exhibit in Hong Kong's Museum of History) asia.nikkei.com/opinion/beij... cc @ageofrevolutions.bsky.social @historians.org

03.03.2026 22:28 👍 15 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
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Beijing spins its narrative of history in today's Hong Kong Museum exhibit extols suppression of 2019 protests, celebrates National Security Law

Beijing spins its narrative of history in today's Hong Kong
https://asia.nikkei.com/opinion/beijing-spins-its-narrative-of-history-in-today-s-hong-kong

03.03.2026 20:06 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1

My latest, co-written with Victoria Jones of LSE

03.03.2026 22:24 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

March 11, 5:15 pm GMT: @soasuni.bsky.social hosts an in-person book launch for @woeser.bsky.social ’s Ocean, as Much as Rain, featuring Fiona Sze-Lorrain and Dechen Pemba, who edited and translated the book. Khalili Lecture Theatre, Torrington Square, London:

01.03.2026 22:21 👍 2 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

I was hesitant to do book promo during this awful moment but if you're looking for context on US policy toward Iran, please check out my book.

28.02.2026 18:16 👍 18 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
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If you are in the Berkeley area & interested in The Milk Tea Alliance (or curious to learn what it is & what it has to do with the Umbrella Movement & The Hunger Games), I’ll be up there to give a talk you might want to catch March 10.

27.02.2026 02:31 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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Due out in many markets 24 March (but not North America, stay tuned for word on a future US/Canada edition), my very very short book on the PRC in the Xi era--deeply grateful to Minh Bui Jones for many things, Rana Mitter for his Intro, & Tania B, Cindy Y, David M & Victor M for the blurbs

26.02.2026 18:57 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

👇 Details on my March 10 Berkeley talk events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...

27.02.2026 02:34 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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If you are in the Berkeley area & interested in The Milk Tea Alliance (or curious to learn what it is & what it has to do with the Umbrella Movement & The Hunger Games), I’ll be up there to give a talk you might want to catch March 10.

27.02.2026 02:31 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
Post image Post image

Due out in many markets 24 March (but not North America, stay tuned for word on a future US/Canada edition), my very very short book on the PRC in the Xi era--deeply grateful to Minh Bui Jones for many things, Rana Mitter for his Intro, & Tania B, Cindy Y, David M & Victor M for the blurbs

26.02.2026 18:57 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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What can protest movements learn from one other?
In our latest issue, we chat to Jeffrey Wasserstrom about his new book exploring the Milk Tea Alliance and the power of international solidarity between protestors in #HongKong, #Myanmar & #Thailand ⬇️
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

09.02.2026 12:19 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0