Darren Byler
Darren Byler is an American anthropologist and author. He is assistant professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.[1] Byler specializes in the Uyghurs in China and has written about the ongoing oppression of the ethnic group in China, such as through the Xinjiang internment camps.[2]
Byler has a BA in History & Visual Journalism from Kent State University, an MA in East Asian Studies from Columbia University, and a PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington.[3] Prior to joining Simon Fraser University, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado.[4]
Byler has worked as an advisor with faculty members and researchers at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University to build the Xinjiang Documentation Project, a project that documents the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.[3][5] His research has been supported by Columbia University's Global Reports series and a Luce Foundation and American Council of Learned Societies Early Career Fellowship.[3]
Byler has published many of his analyses of Central Asian, Chinese, and Uyghur life and politics on his long running blog Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia. He is also a frequent contributor to The China Project.
Byler has been frequently attacked by Chinese state media, who have accused him of being an agent of the United States government, which Byler has denied. The Global Times, a newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has accused Byler of being an "anti-China figure" who makes "fabricated" allegations about "genocide and crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang.[6]
Books
- Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City (Duke University Press, 2021)[7]
- In the Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony (Columbia University Global Reports, 2021)[8]
- Xinjiang Year Zero with Ivan Franceschini and Nicholas Loubere (ANU Press, 2022)[9]
References
- ^ Ayed, Nahlah (17 February 2022). "China's high-tech repression of Uyghurs is more sinister — and lucrative — than it seems, anthropologist says". CBC Radio One. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ Goldkorn, Jeremy (16 December 2021). "What is happening in Xinjiang as 2021 draws to a close?". SupChina. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
- ^ a b c "Darren Byler - School for International Studies - Simon Fraser University". www.sfu.ca.
- ^ Byler, Darren; Sanchez Boe, Caroline (24 July 2020). "Tech-enabled 'terror capitalism' is spreading worldwide. The surveillance regimes must be stopped". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ Byler, Darren (23 October 2021). "China's internment camps in Xinjiang are a horror. Survivors and participants alike must reconcile with the truth". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ Todd, Douglas (2022-08-11). "Douglas Todd: SFU prof targeted by China for groundbreaking Uyghur research". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
- ^ Forth, Aidan (November 8, 2021). "Settler Colonialism Meets the War on Terror: The Enclosure of China's Uyghurs". Los Angeles Review of Books.
- ^ "Two new books shed light on the plight of the Uyghurs". The Economist. October 28, 2021.
- ^ Byler, Darren; Franceschini, Ivan; Loubere, Nicholas, eds. (2022). Xinjiang Year Zero. ANU Press. doi:10.22459/XYZ.2021. ISBN 9781760464943.