Excited to see the Turkish edition of my book The Culture of Democracy: A Sociological Approach to Civil Society (Polity 2022) just came out with Lejand. www.lejand.com.tr/product-page...

Celebrities including Pedro Pascal and Selena Gomez wrote: "Our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives and entertainers."

Mark your calendar: Sept 23, I'll give a talk at U Michigan (zoom and in-person) on "Meanings of Zero: the Performative Logic of China's Zero-COVID Policy." This study is part of my ongoing book on disaster politics in China & a stand-alone article. Looking forward! events.umich.edu/event/137321...

Pleased to announce that my paper "Sacred ordinariness: event, cultural codes, and the politics of a COVID pandemic icon" (on symbolic politics around the death and mourning of Dr. Li Wenliang, an "icon of ordinariness") was published in AJCS. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Deadline in a week! Let me know if you have any questions.

Reposting this call for contributions. Abstract by September 1, 2025!

Reposting this Call for Contributions to an edited volume. Deadline for abstracts: Sept 1, 2025

Call For Contributions to an Edited Volume Trauma, Reconciliation, and Mnemonic Justice in Modern China Bin Xu (Emory) Zhiyi Yang (Frankfurt) Thomas B. Gold (Berkeley) Abstract by September 1, 2025. Full paper by March 31, 2026. Volume to the press summer 2026. Details: binxu.net/call-for-con...

Today marks five years since George Floyd was killed by police. Our June 22, 2020 cover “Say Their Names,” by Kadir Nelson, illustrated how Floyd’s murder embodies the history of violence inflicted upon Black people in America. nyer.cm/UmfefJw

Pleased to share my new article in Social Problems (w/ two stellar graduate students Lingxiao Chen and Xueqia Zhang): "How to Say “Black Lives Matter” in Chinese?: Race, Democracy, and Discourses of a Movement" academic.oup.com/socpro/advan...

You count on the NPR Network. Today, supporters like you are donating and sharing what #PublicMediaGives to their communities that no other news service can. Your support connects small towns, big cities and the millions who call them home. Every dollar makes a difference. Donate now: n.pr/4lFTPPD

You must be kidding me, a grant reviewer at Emory: "qualitative work is important only if it helps contextualize quantitative evidence. Absent this, it’s just stories."

economic downturn+unemployed, uneduated, & hateful mob+scapegoating a certain group-->a war to divert attention. that was not just Germany in the 1930s

In a world of increasing frequency, magnitude & impact of disasters, we do well to remember: “individuals & groups are not born vulnerable: they are rendered vulnerable through processes of social marginalization & exclusion.” Kathleen Tierney’s indispensable new edition is OUT NOW ↓

I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.

Are you really surprised? www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

The end goal is to make education a privilege for children born into wealth while destroying the meritocracy that is at the center of the American dream.

The first large-scale, permanent COVID memorial in US. There have been a smaller one in Frankfort, KY, some statues & sculptures, & memorials in other forms (installations, virtual, etc.). This will be a significant addition to my list of almost 300 cases of COVID memorialization around the world.

Those who attend the AAS, please mark your calendar: our roundtable on "Multifaceted and Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Memories", Saturday, March 15, 2025, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM, Clark (2nd Floor, Hyatt). Please join us for a great discussion! #aas2025

Congratulations, Liu Jiakun, on Pritzker Prize! I interviewed him in 09 for my dissertation on the Sichuan earthquake. Liu built a profoundly moving memorial for Hu Huishan a child whose death was likely caused by the substandard construction of the school building. www.archdaily.com/1027571/chin...

"I want the US to stand more firmly on our side. This is not just a war between our two countries; Russia brought this war on to our territory and into our homes. They are wrong because they disrespected our territorial integrity."

Those who voted for Trump should feel ashamed since you are on the wrong side of history

Teaching a seminar on collective memory today...

Meaningful work is a form of resistance. “I refuse to accept the role of a victim. I’m here to create the films I’ve always dreamed of making.”

Amid all the chaos, good news arrived: a paper I collaborated on with two of my outstanding graduate students, Lingxiao Chen & Xueqia Zhang, was accepted for publication by Social Problems. The title is "How to Say “Black Lives Matter” in Chinese?: Race, Democracy, and Discourses of a Movement."

Received The Extraordinary in the Mundane: Family and Forms of Community in China, edited by Becky Yang Hsu. I'm honored and delighted to write an endorsement for this important volume:

"The suspect was last spotted stepping out of Caravaggio's 'Boy with a Basket of Fruit' (1593)." cc: @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social

Thank Table Media for migrating my old interview to Bluesky.

Ahead of the 2025 legislative session, the Georgia Department of Education is pushing for increased safety measures in light of the Apalachee High School shooting earlier this year, such as one SRO in every school. #gapol #georgiaeducation I report for WABE News: www.wabe.org/georgia-depa...

Best title www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Sorry if I don't follow you back. Simply can't follow everyone manually.

LOL

Woke? Thanks to @delanomassey.bsky.social over at @axios.com for the chance to recall the before times when to be woke was a pride. As a writer, I’m sure words and the meanings they carry still matter, even when twisted into a dog whistle. Stay woke, friends. www.axios.com/2024/11/17/a...

E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

The Guardian's @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social: The exodus from #X to #Bluesky has happened – the era of mass social media platforms is over There’s comfort in being surrounded by like-minded people, but challenge is important, and we may have to look for it elsewhere www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is there an automatic follow back function?