Darren Byler is an American anthropologist and author. He is assistant professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser UniversityinBritish Columbia, Canada.[1] Byler specializes in the Uyghurs in China and has written about the ongoing oppression of the ethnic group in China, such as through the Xinjiang internment camps.[2]
Byler has a BA in History & Visual Journalism from Kent State University, an MA in East Asian Studies from Columbia University, and a PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington.[3] Prior to joining Simon Fraser University, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado.[4]
Byler has worked as an advisor with faculty members and researchers at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University to build the Xinjiang Documentation Project, a project that documents the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.[3][5] His research has been supported by Columbia University's Global Reports series and a Luce Foundation and American Council of Learned Societies Early Career Fellowship.[3]
Byler has published many of his analyses of Central Asian, Chinese, and Uyghur life and politics on his long running blog Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia. He is also a frequent contributor to The China Project.
Byler has been frequently attacked by Chinese state media, who have accused him of being an agent of the United States government, which Byler has denied. The Global Times, a newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has accused Byler of being an "anti-China figure" who makes "fabricated" allegations about "genocide and crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang.[6]
