This blog sits at an intersection of a lot of different subjects and interests. It's a blog about China. It's a blog about Islam. It's a blog about urban life. It's a blog about culture. It's a blog about food. It's a blog about travel. It's a blog about ethnicity. You get the point. However, it is primarily become a vehicle for me to talk about the work that I do, and the places that I do it in. I would be remiss, therefore, if I did not take a brief moment to acknowledge the huge intellectual debt that I (and so many other contemporary scholars of ethnicity and nationalism) owe to Benedict Anderson, who passed away last night. Anderson's book, Imagined Communities, was (and continues to be) a groundbreaking and influential in the field, and all of social science for that matter. It's a touchstone work read by every aspiring scholar in the field, and a measuring stick for many of the rest of us who hope to make a career studying and writing about identity, ethnicity, and nationalism. While I never met him, I realize that my own work would not be possible if not for the foundations that he laid and on which we all continue to build and improve.
- David R. Stroup