Dr Thomas Cliff
Areas of expertise
- Government And Politics Of Asia And The Pacific 160606
- Studies Of Asian Society 169903
- Social Change 160805
- Social And Cultural Anthropology 160104
- Visual Arts And Crafts Not Elsewhere Classified 190599
Research interests
Experience of Settler Populations on China's Frontiers. Empire and Colonialism. Migration.
Entrepreneurs. Family and Lineage. Informal Institutions.
Risk and Uncertainty. Unrest and Stability Maintenance. Welfare Politics.
Biography
Tom Cliff is an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Culture, History, and Language at the Australian National University. Tom is currently investigating the role of the informal institutions of family and enterprise in responding to economic uncertainty and the ageing population in China.
The "Informal Life Politics" research group is exploring how people organise themselves to protect their health and livelihood from threats that emanate from state action or the lack of state action.
Tom has conducted long-term fieldwork in Xinjiang, and his book, Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang was published by Chicago University Press in June 2016.
Researcher's projects
Family, Enterprise, and Civic Duty in Contemporary China
Business-Local State Relationships in China (ARC DP140101289, with Andrew Kipnis)
Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang
Publications
- Cliff, T 2016, Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
- Cliff, T 2016, 'Lucrative Chaos: Inter-Ethnic Conflict as a Function of the Economic 'Normalisation' of Southern Xinjiang', in Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle (ed.), Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang, Columbia University Press, New York, US, pp. 122-150.
- Cliff, T 2015, 'Post-Socialist Aspirations in a Neo-Danwei', The China Journal, vol. 73, pp. 132-157.
- Cliff, Thomas 2014 “Artificial Light, Beijing”, [Photo Essay], The China Story, January 28 http://www.thechinastory.org/2014/01/artificial-light-beijing/
- Cliff, T 2013, 'Peripheral Urbanism: Making History on China's Northwest Frontier', China Perspectives, vol. 3, pp. 13-23.
- Cliff, T 'Un urbanisme à la périphérie: Écrire l’histoire à la frontière nord-ouest de la Chine', Perspectives Chinois, No. 3, 2013, pp. 15-26.
- Cliff, T 2012, 'The Partnership of Stability in Xinjiang: State-Society Interactions Following the ]uly 2009 Unrest', The China Journal, vol. July 2012, no. 68, pp. 79-105.
- Cliff, T 2010, 'China and the Partnership of Stability in Xinjiang'.
- Cliff, T 2009, 'Neo Oasis: The Xinjiang Bingtuan in the Twenty-first Century', Asian Studies Review, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 83-106.
- Cliff, T 2014, 'Book Review:Photography and China, for The China Journal', The China Journal, vol. 72, pp. 217-219.
- Cliff, T 2013, 'Book Review: Brush and Shutter: Early Photography in China', The China Journal, vol. 70, pp. 271-273.
- Cliff, T 2013, 'Book Review: 'Chinese Characters: Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a Fast-Changing Land'', The China Journal, vol. 70, pp. 240-242.
- Cliff, T 2012, 'Book Review: The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land', The China Journal, vol. 68, pp. 268-270.
- Cliff, T 2011, 'Book Review: 21st-century China: Views from Australia', The China Journal, vol. 65, no. January 2011, pp. 219-220.
- Cliff, T 2009, 'Book Review: Community Matters in Xinjiang 1880-1949: Towards a Historical Anthropology of the Uyghur', The China Journal, vol. 62, pp. 137-138.
- Cliff, T 2008, 'Book Review: Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang', The China Journal, vol. 59, pp. 193-194.
Projects and Grants
Grants are drawn from ARIES. To add Projects or Grants please contact your College Research Office.
- Business-Local State Relationships in China (Secondary Investigator)
