Diana Fu

Co-lead, Changing World Order area of focus, Munk School
Director, East Asia Seminar Series
Associate Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Headshot of Diana Fu - photo by Alexis MacDonald

Areas of interest

  • China
  • Civil society
  • Social movements & contentious politics
  • Authoritarian citizenship
  • Diaspora politics

Biography

Associate Professor

Diana Fu is associate professor of political science at The University of Toronto and director of the East Asia Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.  She is a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, a China fellow at the Wilson Center, and a public intellectuals fellow at the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Her research examines civil society, popular contention, state control, and authoritarian citizenship in China. She is author of the award-winning book “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China” (2018, Cambridge). Based on political ethnography inside labor organizations, it uncovers how Chinese migrant workers organized for rights without protesting en masse. It received best book awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Studies Association. Her articles have appeared in Comparative Political Studies (co-winner of the 2017 best article in CPS), Governance (winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Scholarly Article Award), Modern China, Perspectives on Politics, and The China Journal.

Her research and commentary have also appeared in BBC World ServiceBloomberg TVCBCForeign AffairsForeign PolicyReutersUS News & World ReportThe EconomistThe Financial TimesThe Globe & Mail, and The New York Times, among others. She has hosted the TVO documentary series “China Here and Now” and POLITICO China Watcher.

Dr. Fu received her D.Phil in Politics form Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar and previously served as National Co-secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship for China. She has been elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.

Main Bio

Diana Fu is associate professor of political science at The University of Toronto and director of the East Asia Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.  She is a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, a China fellow at the Wilson Center, and a public intellectuals fellow at the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Her research examines civil society, popular contention, state control, and authoritarian citizenship in China. She is author of the award-winning book “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China” (2018, Cambridge). Based on political ethnography inside labor organizations, it uncovers how Chinese migrant workers organized for rights without protesting en masse. It received best book awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Studies Association. Her articles have appeared in Comparative Political Studies (co-winner of the 2017 best article in CPS), Governance (winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Scholarly Article Award), Modern China, Perspectives on Politics, and The China Journal.

Her research and commentary have also appeared in BBC World ServiceBloomberg TVCBCForeign AffairsForeign PolicyReutersUS News & World ReportThe EconomistThe Financial TimesThe Globe & Mail, and The New York Times, among others. She has hosted the TVO documentary series “China Here and Now” and POLITICO China Watcher.

Dr. Fu received her D.Phil in Politics form Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar and previously served as National Co-secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship for China. She has been elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.

Select publications

Please see her website for more information: www.dianafu.org

 

Awards & recognition

  • 2018 American Political Science Association’s Gregory Luebbert Award for Best Book in Comparative Politics published in the previous two years.
  • 2019 International Studies Association’s International Political Sociology Award for best book
  • 2019 American Sociological Association’s Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship book award
  • 2019 American Sociological Association distinguished scholarly article award from the labor and labor movements section.

  • 2018 Comparative Political Studies Editorial Board’s best paper award

Courses

Chinese Politics Beyond the Headlines
Social Movements & Contentious Politics
Comparative Development in Political Perspective
Qualitative Methods (Core PhD course)