Diana Fu
Associate Professor, Government, Director, Levinson Program in China and Asia-Pacific Studies
Academic focus:
Comparative politics, Chinese Politics, ethnographic methods
Current research project:
I study state control and popular contention in contemporary China. My work has policy implications for understanding how and why domestic politics matters for deciphering Chinese politics beyond the headlines. I also practice and write on political ethnography in the digital era. My second co-authored book, "Governing Global China’s Diaspora,” examines how the Chinese state exercises its power transnationally to govern populations outside of its sovereign borders.
Previous positions:
Associate Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 2013-2026
Academic background:
D.Phil., Politics, University of Oxford, 2012
M.Phil., Development Studies, University of Oxford, 2008
B.A., Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Global Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2006
Last book read:
“In the Time of Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez
In your own time/when not working:
Latin dancing, creative writing, learning languages
Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching:
Chinese Politics Beyond the Headlines
What most excites you about Cornell:
Cornell is a world set apart. The government department is an intellectual powerhouse. This excites me, along with fertilization of ideas with colleagues in other departments. I am particularly enthusiastic about working with the students of the Levinson Program who I see as critical linchpins in a time of tension between the United States and China. These students are among the privileged few Americans who understand China not just from textbooks and the New York Times but also from the ground up. This is an invaluable perspective to have in a time when geopolitics is shaped by fear rather than mutual understanding.
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