Barry Sautman
Barry Victor Sautman is a professor with the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. A Canadian and American by nationality, he speaks both English and Cantonese.
A political scientist and lawyer by training who primarily teaches international law, he has conducted research about ethnic politics and nationalism in China, as well as China–Africa relations, in cooperation with anthropologist Yan Hairong in the latter field. His positions on the Tibet issue are seen as close to those of China.
His opinions and comments as an expert on these subjects have been sought by national and international printed and online media.
Graduate education
- 1979: Master of Library Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
- 1982: Juris Doctor in Law, University of California, Los Angeles
- 1985: Legum Magister in Law, New York University
- 1990: Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Columbia University, New York
Work experience
From 1983 to 1985, he was a law clerk and from 1985 to 1991, an attorney.From fall 1990 to spring 1991, he was an adjunct assistant professor at California State University, Northridge, teaching courses in US politics.
In 1991-1992, he was a visiting assistant professor in comparative politics at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, in Nanjing, China. He taught courses in comparative politics; politics, law & society; political development; and US-China relations.
From 1993 to 2000, he was an assistant professor in the Division of Social Science at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, then from 2000 to 2008, an associate professor at the same university.
In 2002-2003, he was also a Visiting Fellow in the Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University.
He taught undergraduate courses in international law; politics, law & society; China-US relations; political development; and comparative politics; and also graduate courses in nationalism, ethnicity, and US hegemony.
Fields of research
His areas of research have been Communist and post-Communist systems; Chinese politics ; the political economic and legal aspects of the Tibet and Xinjiang issues; China-Africa links; the supposed strategic rivalry between the US and China in Africa; and international law.Expertise
His opinions and comments as an expert on these subjects have been sought by national and international printed and online media, the AFP press agency and various web sites.He was interviewed by Radio France Internationale and Voice of America News and took part in the BBC Radio 4 program Today.
Opinions
Australian sinologist Colin Mackerras, an emeritus professor at Griffith University, sees Barry Sautman as "probably the main contributor to Tibet studies in Hong Kong's universities, at least in English." His research focuses on contemporary Tibet and uses history to shed light on it. As a scholar, he is tremendously productive. Although he does not speak Tibetan and is not a specialist of Tibetan culture, he "balances this lack with profound understanding of world history and international law." He views law and political science as his main areas of expertise. His stand on Tibet-related issues is akin to that of China, whose historical and legal claims to Tibet he supports. As this is not a fashionable stand in Western countries, "he has become a controversial figure." On the other hand, "because he is so well-informed and his research is so thorough," he is often asked to put across pro-Chinese positions in venues dealing with Tibet.Criticism
On account of his refutation of the claim of a physical and cultural genocide in Tibet, his underlining of the various benefits, rights, and material gains Tibetans have reaped from the region's modernization, and his indictment of what he calls "ethnonationalism" on the part of exile Tibetans, Barry Sautman has drawn criticism from writers supportive of an independent or free Tibet such as Jamyang Norbu and Elliot Sperling.Jamyang Norbu criticizes Sautman for his selective use of dubious facts and figures, writing in academic gobbledygook, and jumping to conclusions without citing evidence.Publication list
Barry Sautman has published a number of articles and studies in peer-reviewed journals specializing in law: Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal, Texas International Law Journal, Chinese Journal of International Law, Stanford Journal of International Law, Rutgers Race and Law Review; economic and social policies: Pacific Affairs, Problems of Post-Communism; history: Current History; international relations: World Affairs; Asia: The Journal of Asian Studies, , and especially China Information, The China Quarterly, Modern China; Africa: African Studies Review, African and Asian Studies, South African Labour Bulletin.He co-authored a number of articles with Irene Eng, Baogang He, Yan Hairong, Kenneth King, as well as monographs with Shiu-hing Lo, Ellen Kneehans. He co-edited a collective book with June Teufel Dreyer.
He has also contributed opinion articles to newspapers, The Guardian ).
Journal articles
- 1985. , Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 3, pp. 483–539
- 1987. The Politicized Worker Under the National Labor Relations Act, Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 1, Article 3
- 1988. The Politicized Worker under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, in Hofstra Labor Law and Employment Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 2, pp. 67–107
- 1991. Politicization, Hyperpoliticization, and Depoliticization of Chinese Education, in Comparative Education Review, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 669–689
- 1992. Sirens of the Strongman: Neo-Authoritarianism in Recent Chinese Political Theory, in The China Quarterly, No 129, pp. 71–102
- 1994. Anti-Black Racism in Post-Mao China, in The China Quarterly, No 138, June, pp. 413–437
- 1995. The Devil to Pay - The 1989 Debate and the Intellectual Origins of Yeltsin’s Soft Authoritarianism, in Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol. 28, Issue 1, pp. 131–151
- 1996. Theories of East Asian Intellectual and Behavioral Superiority and Discourses on "Race Differences", in Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Vol. 4, Issue 3, pp. 519–567
- 1997. The Tibet Question: Meeting the Bottom Lines, in Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 44, Issue 3, pp. 15–24
- 1997. Racial Nationalism and China's External Behavior, in World Affairs, Vol. 160, Issue 2, pp. 78–95
- 1998. Preferential Policies for Ethnic Minorities in China: The Case of Xinjiang, in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol. 4, Issue 1-2, 1998, pp. 86–118
- 1998. , in Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal, University of Washington, Vol. 7, Issue 1, 1998, pp. 77–86
- 1999. , in Law & Policy, Vol. 21, Issue 3, pp. 283–314, July 1999
- 1999. The Tibet Issue in Post-Summit Sino-American Relations, in Pacific affairs, Vol. 72, Issue 1, SPR, p. 7+
- 2000. Is Xinjiang an Internal Colony?, in Inner Asia, Vol. 2, Issue 2, pp. 239–271
- 2000. Association, Federation and 'Genuine' Autonomy: the Dalai Lama's Proposals and Tibet Independence, in China Information, Vol. 14, pp. 31–91
- 2001. Peking Man and the Politics of Paleoanthropological Nationalism in China, in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 60, Issue 1, February, pp. 95–124
- 2001. Is Tibet China’s Colony? The Claim of Demographic Catastrophe, in Columbia Journal of Asian Law, Vol. 15, Issue 1, pp. 81–131
- 2001. Tibet: Myths and Realities, in Current History. A Journal of Contemporary World Affairs, September 2001, Vol. 100, Issue 647, pp. 278–283
- 2001, Tibet: Development for Whom?, in China Information: A Journal on Contemporary China Studies, Vol. 15, Issue 2, pp. 20–75
- 2002. Resolving the Tibet Question: Problems and Prospects, in Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 11, No. 30, pp. 77–107
- 2003. , in Texas International Law Journal, Vol. 38, Issue 2, pp. 173–246
- 2005. China's Vulnerability to Ethnic Minority Separatism in Tibet, in Asian Affairs: an American Review, Vol. 31, Issue 2, pp. 87–118
- 2006. , in Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 243–265
- 2007., , in African Studies Review, vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 75–114
- 2008., , in Pacific Affairs, Vol. 81, Issue 1, 28 p.
- 2008., Fu Manchu in Africa: the Distorted Portrayal of China's Presence in the Continent, in South African Labour Bulletin, November, Vol. 31, Issue 5, pp. 34–38
- 2008. , Phayul.com, August 4
- 2008. , in China Left Review, Issue 1
- 2008. , in China Left Review, Issue 1
- 2009., African Perspectives on China-Africa Links, in China Quarterly, No 199, pp. 729–760
- 2010. , in Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Vol. 18, Issue 1, pp. 89–143
- 2010. Tibet’s Putative Statehood and International Law, in Chinese Journal of International Law, Vol. 9, Issue 1, pp. 127–142
- 2010 Chinese Farms in Zambia: From Socialist to ‘Agro-Imperialist’ Engagement?, in African and Asian Studies, Vol. 9, pp. 307–333
- 2010 , ON LINE opinion, 15 February 2010
- 2010. Scaling Back Minority Rights? The Debate About China's Ethnic Policies, in Stanford Journal of International Law, Vol. 46, Issue 1, pp. 51–120
- 2011. , in The Asia-Pacific Journal : Japan Focus, Vol. 9, Issue 52, No 1, December 26
- 2011. The ‘Right Dissident’: Liu Xiaobo and the Nobel Peace Prize, in Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Vol. 19, Issue 2, pp. 581–613
- 2011. The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, in China Journal, Vol. 66, July, pp. 221–222
- 2012. , in East Asia Forum, March 21
- 2012. Paved with Good Intentions: Proposals to Curb Minority Rights and their Consequences for China, in Modern China, Vol. 38, Issue 1, pp. 10–39
- 2012. Chasing Ghosts: Rumors and Representations of the Export of Chinese Prison Labour to Developing Countries, in China Quarterly, No 210, pp. 398–418
- 2013. ‘The Beginning of a World Empire’?: Contesting the Discourse of Chinese Copper Mining in Zambia, in Modern China, March
- 2013. , The Adelaide Review, September 10
- 2013. The Chinese Defilement Case: Racial Profiling in an African 'Model of Democracy', in Rutgers Race and the Law Review, Vol. 14, No 1, pp. 87–134
- 2014. Self-Representation and Ethnic Minority Rights in China, in Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 15, Issue 2, pp. 174–196
Book chapters
- 1995. Theories of East Asian Intellectual and Behavioral Superiority and the "Clash of Civilizations", in Racial Identities in East Asia, Barry Sautman Ed., Hong Kong: Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, pp. 58–121
- 1997. , in Frank Dikötter, The Construction of Racial Identities in China and Japan: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, pp. 75–95,.
- 1999. Year of the Yak: the Tibet Question in Contemporary US-China Relations, in The Outlook for U.S.-China Relations Following the 1997-1998 Summits: Chinese and American Perspectives on Security, Trade, and Cultural Exchange, Edited by Peter H. Koehn, Joseph Y.S. Cheng, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 403 p., pp. 181–205
- 1999. Expanding Access to Higher Education for China's National Minorities: Policies of Preferential Admission, in China's National Minority Education Culture, Schooling, and Development, Edited by Gerard A. Postiglione, Falmer Press, New York, pp. 173–210
- 2000. , in Handbook of Global Legal Policy, CRC Press, 560 p., pp. 71–102
- 2004. Hong Kong as a Semi-Ethnocracy: 'Race,' Migration, and Citizenship in a Globalized Region, in Agnes Ku & Pun Ngai, Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong: Community, Nation, and the Global City, Routledge, New York, pp. 115–138
- 2005-2006. with ), The Politics of the Dalai Lama's New Initiative for Autonomy, in Pacific Affairs, Vol. 78, Issue 4, pp. 601–629 - aussi sous le titre Dalai Lama's New Initiative for Autonomy, in Paula Banerjee and Samir Kumar Das, Autonomy: Beyond Kant and Hermeneutics, Anthem Press, London, 2007, pp. 235–260.
- 2006., Honour and Shame? China's Africa Ties in Comparative Perspectives, in Leni Wild and David Mepham, The New Sinosphere: China in Africa, Institute of Public Policy Research, London, pp. 54–61
- 2006. Introduction: Cultural Genocide in International Context and , in Barry Sautman, Cultural Genocide and Asian State Peripheries, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 279 p., pp. 1–37 and 165-279,
- 2006. Introduction: the Tibet Question in Contemporary Perspective and 'Demographic Annihilation' and Tibet, in Barry Sautman & June Teufel Dreyer, Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development and Society in a Disputed Region, ME Sharpe, Armonk, pp. 3–22, pp. 230–257,
- 2008., in Dorothy Grace Guerrero, Firoze Manji, China's New Role in Africa and the South: A Search for a New Perspective, Fahamu, Oxford, 2008,
- 2012. Ethnicity in China: Politics, Policies and Consequences, in Handbook of Contemporary China'', Edited by William S Tay, Alvin Y. So, World Scientific, New Jersey ; Hong Kong
Op-ed pieces
- 2010. , in South China Morning Post , 11 September 2010
- 2010 , in South China Morning Post , 12 October 2010
- 2010, , in The Guardian, December 15, 2010
Editorship
- 1995. Racial Identities in East Asia, edited by Barry Sautman, Hong Kong: Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- 2006. Cultural Genocide and Asian State Peripheries, edited by Barry Sautman, Palgrave Macmillan, New York,
- 2006. Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development and Society in a Disputed Region, edited by Barry Sautman & June Teufel Dreyer, ME Sharpe, Armonk
Monographs
- 1990. Retreat from Revolution. Why Communist Systems Deradicalize, University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1990, 669 p.
- 1995., , Maryland Occasional Papers/Reprints Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No. 2 - 1995, 82 p.,
- 2002., The Politics of Racial Discrimination in Hong Kong, Maryland Monograph Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No. 2-2002, 83 p.,
- 2006., East Mountain Tiger, West Mountain Tiger: China, Africa, the West, and 'Colonialism' in Africa, Maryland Monograph Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No. 3-2006, 77 p.,
- 2009. , Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No 3-2009, 86 p.,
- 2011. , University of Southern California Annenberg School Center on Public Diplomacy Series, Paper No 11,
- 2012., The Chinese are the Worst?: Human Rights and Labor Practices in Zambian Mining, Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, 2012, 100 p.,
Other academic services
- Founder of the journal Asian Ethnicity and member of its Board of Editors
- Author of reviews in China Quarterly, China Journal, Pacific Affairs, Asian Ethnicity, East Asia
Lectures
Reviews of the author's contributions
- In China Journal, July 2006, Issue 56, p. 213, review by Mark Stevenson of Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development, and Society in a Disputed Region
- In China Review International, Spring 2007, Vol. 14, Issue 1, p. 203, review by Ronald Schwartz of Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development, and Society in a Disputed Region