Profile

I am a researcher working at the intersection of sociology and political sciences. In my publications, I explore dynamics of collective memory, remembrance, alternative identities and narrative shaping. What I investigate is how diversity is conceptualised and understood in different contexts, across multiple cognitive environments, and how its management is linked with notions of power and space. I am an ethnographer specialized in Grounded Theory and capability approach, which I adopt to look at how diversity and development intersect with political dynamics.

My expertise revolves around Chinese society and politics and the issues of diversity and ‘otherness’, focusing on Islamic communities and especially Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. I mainly explore policies and actions put in place by national and local governments to dilute identities of integrate religious and cultural minorities.

China’s attitude to diversity and ‘otherness’ is reflected in its foreign policy and projection to other contexts through the Belt and Road Initiative and other schemes. I explore how domestic targets and narratives are translated into foreign policy actions and discourses, with an effort to conceptualize the dimensions and criteria in projecting a country’s image abroad.

I welcome students who would like to engage in Ph.D. research in any of the following areas: Chinese society with a focus on identity and marginality; China's cultural diplomacy and Belt and Road Initiative; China's periphery; policy processes in socio-economic development; Islam in China.