@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
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... )
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.
|| 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.
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/...
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
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
"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).
My latest in the LARB: how the hukou and gaokao systems converge.
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...
Congratulations!
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
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
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
My latest, co-written with Victoria Jones of LSE
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:
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.
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.
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
👇 Details on my March 10 Berkeley talk events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...
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.
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
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....
NEW EPISODE: This week, Jessie Lau speaks to Yi-Ling Liu, a writer covering technology and Chinese society, about her debut book “The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet”: nuvoices.com/2026/02/18/n...
"In addition, there are ways in which Kafka more than Orwell speaks to a key element of life in both the Mao era and what has followed: the ease with which one can be trapped in or simply confused by a complicated, irrational and hard to navigate bureaucracy."
Kate Brown has a new book out (always a good thing) wwnorton.com/books/978132... --and there's a wide-ranging discussion of it, her past writing, & the innovative section of the AHR she's spearheaded in this @publicbooks.bsky.social Q&A with her www.publicbooks.org/recover-repl... cc @historians.org
An interview w/Kate Brown (one of the historians on my "try to read everything they write list") about her beautiful just published @wwnorton.com book Tiny Gardens Everywhere wwnorton.com/books/978132... & her earlier books & winding road to writing this one www.publicbooks.org/recover-repl...
How Kafka (& Orwell) were read and thought about in China in the 1980s & after engelsbergideas.com/essays/kafka... cc @ewong.bsky.social @grantamag.bsky.social @literaryhub.bsky.social
My latest, on Kafka in China (cameos by Yu Hua, Xue Yiwei, Kundera, Murakami & others, including an extended one by Orwell) engelsbergideas.com/essays/kafka... cc @parisreview.bsky.social
My latest, on Kafka in China (cameos by Yu Hua, Xue Yiwei, Kundera, Murakami & others, including an extended one by Orwell) engelsbergideas.com/essays/kafka... cc @parisreview.bsky.social
How Kafka (& Orwell) were read and thought about in China in the 1980s & after engelsbergideas.com/essays/kafka... cc @ewong.bsky.social @grantamag.bsky.social @literaryhub.bsky.social