Rian Thum is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in East Asian History at the University of Manchester, with a research focus on the interpenetration of China and the Muslim World. He has conducted extensive field research since 1999 in Xinjiang and other areas of China with significant Muslim populations, including both Uyghur and Chinese-speaking communities.
Thum is the author of “The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History” (Harvard University Press, 2014), which examines the history of the Uyghur people in China’s Xinjiang region. The book was awarded both the Fairbank Prize for East Asian History from the American Historical Association and the Hsu Prize for East Asian Anthropology from the American Anthropological Association.
Thum’s current book project, “Islamic China,” re-examines Chinese Islam by incorporating Persian and Arabic sources that Chinese-speaking Muslims have used and written. He is also well-known for his work as a consultant for media organizations, businesses, NGOs, and government agencies that are developing responses to the crisis in Xinjiang, including China’s mass internment program for Turkic minorities.
In addition to his academic publications, Thum has written for various popular media outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and The Nation.