About Me
I am an anthropologist with both an MA in Visual Anthropology and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Southern California. My regional expertise is in Central Asia, and I have done extensive research on the Uyghur people in the People’s Republic of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as well as in Central Asia and Turkey. I have also done extensive work in the field of international development, and I am presently the Director of the International Development Studies MA program at The George Washington Univertsity’s Elliott School of International Affairs. My first book, The War on the Uyghurs: China’s Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority was published with Princeton University Press in June 2020. It is also available under the title The War on the Uyghurs: China’s Campaign against Xinjiang’s Muslims with the University of Manchester Press. To learn more about this book and my other work, see below.
Dr. Sean R. Roberts
Associate Professor in the Practice of International Affairs
Director, International Development Studies
Elliott School of International Affairs
The George Washington University (GWU)
My work on the Uyghurs
I have been studying Uyghur history, culture, and politics for almost 30 years, ever since my first trip to the Uyghur homeland in January 1990. In addition to my book, The War on the Uyghurs, I have written numerous academic articles, popular commentary, and policy-related essays about the Uyghurs. Below, you can explore these works.
The War on the Uyghurs
(Book, 2020)
The War on the Uyghurs tells the story of how the People’s Republic of China employed the US-led Global War on Terror as a means to justify the increased repression of Uyghurs inside China, ultimately culminating in the acts of cultural genocide being committed against this people since 2017. For reviews of the book, media coverage, and my virtual book tour, click the button below
Waiting for Uighurstan (Documentary, 1996)
I made this film as an MA student in Visual Anthropology in 1996. While it is a bit dated technologically as well as in terms of content, it continues to serve as important historical documentation of the borderlands Uyghur culture that developed between the Uyghur region of China and former Soviet Central Asia during the 1990s. It can be watched at a low resolution by clicking the button below
Articles on Uyghurs
Here you can find links and titles for various articles I have written about the Uyghur people since the early 1990s. These include academic articles, chapters in academic edited volumes, and more popular and policy oriented essays.
My work on Central Asia
I first went to Central Asia during the 1989-90 school year as an exchange student at Tashkent State University in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1994, I returned to the region, basing myself in independent Kazakhstan where I began fieldwork for my dissertation on the Uyghurs of the Kazakhstan-Chinese borderlands. Since that time, I have spent multiple years in the region doing research and development work. I have spent significant time in all five of the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia and follow developments in these countries. While most of my academic articles focus on the Uyghurs, I have also written on other issues related to the culture and politics of the region more broadly, including several policy papers and popular commentaries. A sampling of this work can be found below.
My work on International Development
I have been involved in international development since 1998, when I first worked at USAID in Central Asia. After leaving USAID in 2000 to complete my dissertation, I returned to work for the organization in Central Asia between 2002 and 2006. Since 2006, I have remained active in development, frequently conducting assessments and evaluations for NGOs, USAID, the UN, and other organizations. My primary interests relate to governance, human rights, and the rights of indigenous peoples and other marginalized populations. Since 2008, I have been the Director of the International Development Studies MA program at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where I focus on training the next generation of development practitioners with an emphasis on culturally appropriate and ethical approaches to the field. Below, you can find a sample of my applied research for international development organizations as well as a link to our MA program’s website.
