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Weirong Guo

@weirongguo.bsky.social

950 followers 460 following 42 posts

Sociologist of culture, politics, migration & global China. Visiting assistant professor at UC Riverside. Former postdocs at Harvard University & UPenn. PhD from Emory. Website: www.weirongguo.com

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · Sep 3

Excited to share that a chapter from my dissertation on political avoidance among migrants has just been published in Social Forces. doi.org/10.1093/sf/s.... I’ve had the honor of receiving tremendously helpful feedback from many people and engaging with the work of many scholars I deeply admire.

Echoes of silence: how student migrants navigate political taboos across borders

Abstract. People migrate from authoritarian to democratic regimes seeking greater freedom of expression, yet many continue to avoid politics in their host

academic.oup.com

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 11d

Thank you, Yanze! They all came out coincidentally around the same time haha

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 12d

It argues instead that cultivating cosmopolitan practices is crucial to resisting nationalism and building solidarities across borders.

Read more here (open access): doi.org/10.1093/socp...

Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 12d

Both reflect migrant students’ struggles with discrimination, mobility, and gendered adversity, with consequences for mental health.

By showing how cosmopolitanism can be practiced deliberately—or forced as adaptation—this study challenges the idea that global citizenship is only about privilege.

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 12d

Drawing on interviews with 60 Chinese international students in the U.S., I identify two pathways:
🤝Activist cosmopolitanism: grounded in moral engagement and collective action.
✍️Cynical cosmopolitanism: marked by skepticism, detachment, and individual coping.

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 12d

🌎What does it mean to be a global citizen in an age of polarization?

📄My new article in Social Problems reconceptualizes cosmopolitanism—not as elite privilege, but as an everyday practice shaped by ethics, emotions, and inequality.

doi.org/10.1093/socp...

From engagement to detachment: divergent cosmopolitanisms among transnational Chinese students

ABSTRACT. What does it mean to be cosmopolitan, or a global citizen? Often perceived as a privileged state of cultural consumption and mobility, cosmopolit

doi.org

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 13d

Congrats, Daniel!!

Reposted by Weirong Guo

American Sociological Association @asanews.bsky.social · 23d

Take action for international students! Proposed DHS rule eliminating Duration of Status is detrimental for international students. Submit public comment (naming Docket No. ICEB-2025-0001) before 11:59 pm EDT, Sept. 29: https://bit.ly/3KoPB0w. Context: https://bit.ly/42nbq6Y.

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Bin Xu. Emory University @binxu013.bsky.social · 28d

Mark your calendar: Sept 23, I'll give a talk at U Michigan (zoom and in-person) on "Meanings of Zero: the Performative Logic of China's Zero-COVID Policy." This study is part of my ongoing book on disaster politics in China & a stand-alone article. Looking forward!
events.umich.edu/event/137321...

LRCCS Noon Lecture Series | Meanings of Zero: The Performative Logic of China’s Zero-COVID Policy | Happening @ Michigan

events.umich.edu

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · 28d

有幸接受了端传媒记者的采访，聊了聊夹在中美之间的中国留学生的困境。原以为是十分钟的采访，没想到聊了两个多小时，真的有太多可分享（和抱怨）的了…相信这篇报导说出了许多留学生的心声，订阅了端传媒的朋友可以点击此链接阅读：https://theinitium.com/article/20250910-mainland-chinese-students-as-the-perpetual-foreigner

「永恆的外國人」：中美對抗下遭遇雙重質疑的中國留學生 | 端傳媒 Initium Media

馮宇豪自嘲自己的經歷似乎像一個間諜苗子，「可是正常人誰願意做間諜？」

theinitium.com

Reposted by Weirong Guo

Qing Tingting Liu @bardjester.bsky.social · Sep 8

I’ve recently started as the Research Coordinator for the @aaas-socsci.bsky.social , and we’re looking for volunteers to serve on the selection committee for either the Outstanding Graduate Student / Faculty Research Award.
If you’re interested, please feel free to reach out at [email protected].

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

AAAS Social Science Caucus @aaas-socsci.bsky.social · 28d

The AAAS SocSci Caucus is pleased to announce a call for nominations for three article awards: Outstanding Graduate Student Research Article, Outstanding Emerging Scholar Research Article, and Outstanding Tenured Faculty Research Article.

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs @weatherheadcenter.bsky.social · 29d

Why do many Chinese students avoid politics in the US despite more freedom? New research by Weirong Guo shows students use 3 major avoidance strategies to navigate different political taboos—shaped by both their experiences in China and pressures in the US. https://loom.ly/4NS3D1s

Screenshot of journal article title and byline.

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Minwoo Jung @minwoojung.bsky.social · Sep 8

My new open-access article in the British Journal of Sociology explores how Korean queer activists envision and enact social change by rethinking “the global”—shifting from UN human rights frameworks to regional solidarities across Asia.

Decolonizing the Global: Contested Cosmopolitanisms in Global Queer Activism

In the last decade, the “decolonial turn” has gained prominence across academic disciplines, challenging inherent Eurocentric knowledge paradigms. Extending these conversations, this paper critically....

doi.org

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · Sep 3

Instead, I show how political avoidance emerges across regimes, shaped not only by regime type but by the structure of political taboos—whether centralized or dispersed, shifting or defined, state-imposed or socially enforced.

Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · Sep 3

In China’s forbidden zone, state-imposed taboos foster habitual avoidance; in the U.S. landmine zone, decentralized and socially enforced taboos push students to adopt new evasive tactics. The study challenges the assumption that authoritarianism and democracy produce opposite political behaviors.

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · Sep 3

The study asks why migrants from authoritarian countries often continue to avoid politics after moving to democratic contexts. Drawing on interviews with Chinese students in the U.S. and China, I identify three strategies of avoidance: pragmatic disengagement, veiled allegiance, & closeted activism.

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · Sep 3

Echoes of silence: how student migrants navigate political taboos across borders

Abstract. People migrate from authoritarian to democratic regimes seeking greater freedom of expression, yet many continue to avoid politics in their host

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Bin Xu. Emory University @binxu013.bsky.social · Aug 31

Pleased to announce that my paper "Sacred ordinariness: event, cultural codes, and the politics of a COVID pandemic icon" (on symbolic politics around the death and mourning of Dr. Li Wenliang, an "icon of ordinariness") was published in AJCS. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Sacred ordinariness: event, cultural codes, and the politics of a COVID pandemic icon - American Journal of Cultural Sociology

Iconic figures are social and cultural constructions that are usually believed to represent the sacred and/or the extraordinary, but scholars have paid less attention to “ordinary icons,” those figure...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Hajar Yazdiha @profhajaryazdiha.bsky.social · Aug 31

✍️ In grad school, @courtneyboen.bsky.social and I talked often about the emotions that seemed to undergird racism. Trayvon, Tamir, Mike Brown and too many more changed us. Ten years later, our findings in @sfjournal.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...

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Weirong Guo @weirongguo.bsky.social · Aug 30

Please consider leaving a comment on www.regulations.gov/document/ICE.... If this is passed, it will have a devastating impact on international students, esp. those in STEM, as they will basically have to return home and renew their visa every single year and face more scrutiny and uncertainty.

Reposted by Weirong Guo

Ruiyi Li @ruiyili.bsky.social · Aug 29

But good news is you can leave a comment at www.regulations.gov/document/ICE... and support your international colleagues by expressing your concerns of this ICEB-2025-0001 docket.

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Yan Long @yanlong-soc.bsky.social · Jul 18

A book party of Asian American first-time authors. We’ll demystify the publishing process and create a space for solidarity. Writing and publishing is never just about research but navigating marginalization, visibility, and voice. Seats with lunch are limited to the First 50 RSVP: shorturl.at/SFuxF

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Yang Zhang @profyangzhang.bsky.social · Jul 16

Glad to share my review essay “Changing China in Sociological Eyes” (AJS, July 2025). It reviews three recent books, while urging historicizing China’s reform and discussing the relationship between area studies and sociology. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Changing China in Sociological Eyes The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China. By Ya-Wen Lei. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2023. Pp. 368. $120.00 (cloth); $...

www.journals.uchicago.edu

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Bin Xu. Emory University @binxu013.bsky.social · Jul 1

Reposting this Call for Contributions to an edited volume. Deadline for abstracts: Sept 1, 2025

Bin Xu. Emory University @binxu013.bsky.social · May 28

Call For Contributions to an Edited Volume
Trauma, Reconciliation, and Mnemonic Justice in Modern China
Bin Xu (Emory)
Zhiyi Yang (Frankfurt)
Thomas B. Gold (Berkeley)
Abstract by September 1, 2025. Full paper by March 31, 2026. Volume to the press summer 2026. Details: binxu.net/call-for-con...

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Reposted by Weirong Guo

Ethnic and Racial Studies @ersjournal.com · Jul 1

#ERSNew🐣🔓 How do class & host-country context shape young #ChineseMigrants’ views on #racism? This study compares #F-1 students in the U.S. & #WorkingHolidayMakers in Australia. Article by Guo Weirong & Qing Tingting Liu: doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2025.2519807

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