Teach-In and Discussion with Gerald Roche

Event Date: Friday, May 23 · 12 - 1:30pm CDT

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT AND WILL NOT BE LIVE STREAMING.

(Registration is CONFIDENTIAL and is only utilized for event planning purposes. Please note that initials or pseudonyms may be used for registration).

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

In order to understand China today, and its relationship to Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other so-called ‘minority’ regions and peoples, we need to develop an anti-colonial analysis that facilitates comparison between China and other colonial contexts. There are many obstacles to developing such an analysis, including the Chinese state’s denial of its colonial history, and the restrictive political environment inside China that makes it practically impossible to carry out critical research there. In this teach-in, Dr. Roche wants to focus on one of the barriers to developing an anti-colonial analysis of China that arises not from the Chinese state, but from sections of the Left outside China. He refers, specifically, to the problem of pseudo-anti-imperialism, which the scholar and unionist Rohini Hensman defines as the practice of opposing some imperialisms, while supporting others, rather than taking a consistent stance against all forms of imperialism. For historical and theoretical insights into the ideologies and practices of pseudo-anti-imperialism, Dr. Roche draws on the work of Hensman and other authors, such as Kavita Krishnan and Gilbert Achcar. He will also discuss examples of pseudo-anti-imperialist approaches to Tibet, looking at historical case studies as well as my own personal encounters as someone who writes about contemporary Chinese colonialism in Tibet. This will help identify some of the common tropes and rhetorical strategies that pseudo-anti-imperialists use. The broader question this discussion hopes to raise is - how can we create space for conversations about colonialism in contemporary China in ways that facilitate transformative solidarities between anti-colonial struggles inside China and elsewhere?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Gerald Roche is a lecturer in linguistics at La Trobe University in Australia. He recently published the book The Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet (Cornell University Press), and his academic articles have appeared in journals such as Annual Review of Anthropology, State Crime Journal, Global Social Challenges Journal, and Patterns of Prejudice. You can also find his writings in The Nation, Jacobin, Interregnum, ROAR Magazine and other places. He is @geraldroche.bsky.social on Bluesky.

PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOGRAPHY

Please note any photography done during this event will be done solely to capture images of the speaker by the Center for East Asian Studies staff with advanced approval by the speaker. Individual faces of audience members will not be taken or posted.

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