Rana Shantashil Rajyeswar Mitter OBE FBA (born 11 August 1969) is a British historian and political scientist of Indian descent who specialises in the History of the People's Republic of China. He is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.[1]
Rana Mitter | |
|---|---|
 Mitter in 2013 | |
| Born | Rana Shantashil Rajyeswar Mitter 11 August 1969 Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Chinese history in the Republican era, contemporary Chinese politics |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | The Japanese occupation of Manchuria (1996) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
editMitter, of Indian Bengali heritage,[2] was born in Cambridge[3] and grew up on the south coast of England, near Brighton.[4] His parents were both academics; his father taught art history at the University of Sussex and his mother, economics at the University of Brighton.[5] Mitter was educated at Lancing College and King's College, Cambridge, where he received both his MA and PhD; in 1991 he was elected President of the Cambridge Union. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.
Academic career
editUntil 2023 he was Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, formerly director of Oxford's China Centre,[4] and a Fellow and Vice-Master of St Cross College.[6][2][7] His 2013 book China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival (titled Forgotten Ally: China’s War with Japan, 1937-45 for publication in the US), about the Second Sino-Japanese War, was well received by critics.[8][9][10][11]
On 16 July 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).[12]
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to education.[13]
He has published several op-eds for The Guardian on contemporary China politics.[14] He is also a regular presenter for Night Waves (now known as Free Thinking) on BBC Radio.[15]
Publications
editBooks
edit- Mitter, Rana (2000). The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, resistance and collaboration in modern China. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0520221117.
- Mitter, Rana (2004). A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192803417.
- Mitter, Rana (2013). China's War with Japan, 1937-1945 : The Struggle for Survival. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0141031453.
- Mitter, Rana (2020). China's Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674984264.
Critical studies, reviews and biography
edit- Kushner, Barak (November 2013). "[Review of China's war with Japan]". Reviews. History Today. 63 (11): 62.
- Bickers, Robert (7 December 2017). "Barbarians Out!". The New York Review of Books. 64 (19): 42–44. Review of Out of China: How the Chinese Ended the Era of Western Domination.
Articles
edit- The Real Roots of Xi Jinping Thought, Foreign Affairs, February 20, 2024[16]
References
edit- ^ "Rana Mitter". www.hks.harvard.edu. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
- ^ a b "Rana Mitter".
- ^ Rivington, James (2018). "The Interview: Rana Mitter" (PDF). British Academy Review. British Academy. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Rana Mitter, the historian teaching China's next generation". Quartz. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Moody, Andrew. "Oxford aims for China excellence". China Daily. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
- ^ "Rana Mitter".
- ^ Datta, Kanika (30 August 2013). "Virtual Coffee with BS: Rana Mitter". Business Standard. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ Overy, Richard (6 June 2013). "China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival by Rana Mitter – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ Moore, Aaron. "China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival". Reviews in History. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ "The start of history". The Economist. 22 June 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ Lovell, Julia (18 July 2013). "China's war With Japan 1937-1945: the struggle for survival, by Rana Mitter, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ "British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed". British Academy. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ^ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B13.
- ^ "Rana Mitter | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Night Waves - Rana Mitter". BBC.
- ^ Mitter, Rana (20 February 2024). "The Real Roots of Xi Jinping Thought". Foreign Affairs. No. March/April 2024. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 21 February 2024.