Barry Sautman
Canadian-American political scientist and lawyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barry Victor Sautman (born July 11, 1949) is a professor emeritus[3] with the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.[4] He holds both Canadian and American nationalities[5] and he speaks both English and Cantonese.[6]
New York University (L.L.M.)
Columbia University (PhD)
Barry Sautman | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | Barry Victor Sautman July 11, 1949[1][2] |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (M.L.S., J.D.) New York University (L.L.M.) Columbia University (PhD) |
| Occupations | professor, lawyer |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Retreat from Revolution. Why Communist Systems Deradicalize (1990) |
A political scientist and lawyer by training who primarily teaches international law,[7] he has conducted research about ethnic politics and nationalism in China, as well as China–Africa relations.[8]
Graduate education
- 1979: Master of Library Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- 1982: Juris Doctor in Law, University of California, Los Angeles (1981-82 at NYU School of Law)
- 1985: Legum Magister in Law, New York University
- 1990: Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Columbia University, New York,[9] PhD thesis title: Retreat from Revolution. Why Communist Systems Deradicalize[10]
Work experience
From 1983 to 1985, he was a law clerk and from 1985 to 1991, an attorney.[9]
From fall 1990 to spring 1991, he was an adjunct assistant professor at California State University, Northridge, teaching courses in US politics.[9]
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.[9]
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.[9]
Fields of research
His areas of research have been Communist and post-Communist systems; Chinese politics (especially ethnic 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 (especially human rights).[9][11]
Reception
Sautman, due to his positions on Tibet and rejection of the notion of repression or cultural genocide,[12] has drawn criticism from writers supportive of an independent or free Tibet such as Jamyang Norbu[13] and Elliot Sperling.[14] Jamyang Norbu called Sautman a "running-dog propagandist" in 2008 and accused him of selectively using dubious facts and figures, skillfully applying "academic gobbledygook", and jumping to conclusions without citing evidence.[15][16] Sautman responded to Norbu's criticism in an article in Phayul.com, stating "Being attacked by Jamyang Norbu is like being criticized by John Bolton."[17]
In 2011, Australian sinologist Colin Mackerras stated that Barry Sautman, a major contributor to Tibet studies in Hong Kong's universities, had become a controversial figure because his stand on Tibet is not fashionable in the West but he is also "so well-informed and his research is so thorough".[5]
In August 2025, Hong Kong magazine The Points described Sautman as a "scholar who once wrote decently on Tibet, but then in recent years has turned into a pro-PRC parrot" and criticized him for his downplaying China's persecution of the Uyghurs.[18] A former student of Sautman, Huang Weiguo, noted that he had become more pro-PRC in recent years. Another social scientist stated that Sautman "is now acting like a major Chinese propaganda tool" and noted his commentaries on the state-run channel CGTN.[18]
Publications
Journal articles
- 1985. The meaning of "Well-Founded Fear of Persecution" in United States Asylum Law and in International Law, Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 3, pp. 483–539
- 1997. The Tibet Question: Meeting the Bottom Lines, in Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 44, Issue 3, pp. 15–24
- 1998. Preferential Policies for Ethnic Minorities in China: The Case of Xinjiang, in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics (Special Issue: Nationalism and Ethnoregional Identities in China), Vol. 4, Issue 1-2, 1998, pp. 86–118
- 1998. Affirmative Action, Ethnic Minorities and China’s Universities, in Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal, University of Washington, Vol. 7, Issue 1, 1998, pp. 77–86
- 1999. Ethnic Law and Minority Rights in China: Progress and Constraints, in Law & Policy, Vol. 21, Issue 3, pp. 283–314, July 1999
- 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. Is Tibet China’s Colony? The Claim of Demographic Catastrophe, in Columbia Journal of Asian Law, Vol. 15, Issue 1 (Fall), 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
- 2003. "Cultural Genocide" and Tibet, 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. Colonialism, Genocide and Tibet, in Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 243–265
- 2007. (with Yan Hairong), Friends and Interests: China's Distinctive Links with Africa, in African Studies Review, vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 75–114
- 2008. (with Yan Hairong), 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. Barry Sautman's response to Jamyang Norbu's opinion piece 'Running-Dog Propagandists', Phayul.com, August 4
- 2008. Protests in Tibet and Separatism. The Olympics and Beyond (Expanded version), in China Left Review, Issue 1
- 2008. (with Kenneth King) Steven Spielberg, China and Darfur, in China Left Review, Issue 1
- 2010. "Vegetarian Between Meals". The Dalai Lama, War and Violence, 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
- 2011. (with Yan Hairong) Gilded Outside, Shoddy Within : The Human Rights Watch report on Chinese copper mining in Zambia, in The Asia-Pacific Journal : Japan Focus, Vol. 9, Issue 52, No 1, December 26 (translation into French under the title "Néocolonialisme ou racisme : critiques d'une entreprise minière", in Société de stratégie, May 2012)
- 2011. (with Yan Hairong) The ‘Right Dissident’: Liu Xiaobo and the Nobel Peace Prize, in Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Vol. 19, Issue 2, pp. 581–613
- 2012. Tibet’s Suicidal Politics, in East Asia Forum, March 21
- 2012. (with Yan Hairong) Chasing Ghosts: Rumors and Representations of the Export of Chinese Prison Labour to Developing Countries, in China Quarterly, No 210 (June), pp. 398–418 ( Abridged Chinese version, 2013 社会观察 ; full Chinese version in 李安山 & 刘海方, 中国非洲研究评论 2012 (北京: 社科文献出版社, 2013)
- 2013. Ethnic Policies: China vs US and India, The Adelaide Review, September 10
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. Myths of Descent, Racial Nationalism and Ethnic Minorities in the People's Republic of China, in Frank Dikötter (ed.), The Construction of Racial Identities in China and Japan: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, pp. 75–95, ISBN 962-209-443-0.
- 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. Legal Reforms and Minority Rights in China, in Handbook of Global Legal Policy (Stuart Nagel ed.), 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 (eds.), Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong: Community, Nation, and the Global City, Routledge, New York, pp. 115–138
- 2005-2006. (with Baogang He), The Politics of the Dalai Lama's New Initiative for Autonomy, in Pacific Affairs, Vol. 78, Issue 4 (Winter 2005-2006), pp. 601–629 - aussi sous le titre Dalai Lama's New Initiative for Autonomy, in Paula Banerjee and Samir Kumar Das (eds.), Autonomy: Beyond Kant and Hermeneutics, Anthem Press, London, 2007, pp. 235–260.
- 2006. Introduction: Cultural Genocide in International Context and Tibet and the (Mis-) Representation of Cultural Genocide, in Barry Sautman (ed.), Cultural Genocide and Asian State Peripheries, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 279 p., pp. 1–37 and 165-279, ISBN 9781403975744
- 2006. Introduction: the Tibet Question in Contemporary Perspective (with Yan Hairong) and 'Demographic Annihilation' and Tibet, in Barry Sautman & June Teufel Dreyer (eds.), Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development and Society in a Disputed Region, ME Sharpe, Armonk, pp. 3–22, pp. 230–257, ISBN 0765613549
- 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
Editorship
- 1995. Racial Identities in East Asia, edited by Barry Sautman, Hong Kong: Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (proceedings of the international conference held in Hong-Kong on November 25 and 26, 1994)
- 2006. Cultural Genocide and Asian State Peripheries, edited by Barry Sautman, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, ISBN 9781403975744
- 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. (with Shiu-hing Lo), The Tibet Question and the Hong Kong Experience, Maryland Occasional Papers/Reprints Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No. 2 - 1995 (127), 82 p., ISBN 0925153397
- 2002. (with Ellen Kneehans), The Politics of Racial Discrimination in Hong Kong, Maryland Monograph Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No. 2-2002 (169), 83 p., ISBN 0925153850
- 2006. (with Yan Hairong), East Mountain Tiger, West Mountain Tiger: China, Africa, the West, and 'Colonialism' in Africa, Maryland Monograph Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No. 3-2006 (186), 77 p., ISBN 1-932330-16-X ISBN 978-1-932330-1-68
- 2009. 'All that Glitters is Not Gold': Tibet as a Pseudo-State Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine , Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, No 3-2009, 86 p., ISBN 1-932330-28-3 ISBN 978-1-932330-28-1
- 2011. (with Li Ying) Public Diplomacy from Below: the 2008 'Pro-China' Demonstrations in Europe and North America, University of Southern California Annenberg School Center on Public Diplomacy Series, Paper No 11, ISBN 1-932800-97-2 ISBN 978-1-932800-97-5
- 2012. (with Yan Hairong), The Chinese are the Worst?: Human Rights and Labor Practices in Zambian Mining, Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, 2012, 100 p., ISBN 1-932330-39-9 ISBN 978-1932330-39-7
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
In 2013, professor Sautman was the speaker at the Adelaide Confucius Institute's annual Public Lecture.[19]
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