Sean R. Roberts

Sean R. Roberts is an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Director of the International Development Studies program at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He is an Anthropologist by training and wrote his dissertation at the University of Southern California on the Uighurs of Kazakhstan and their interaction with China’s Uighurs. In addition to his academic work, he has done substantial work in the field of international development, primarily in the former Soviet Union and especially in Central Asia. Roberts has published numerous articles in academic journals, edited volumes, and policy-oriented publications, both about political development in Central Asia and about the Uighurs. He also frequently provides commentary to major news outlets on these subjects, and he is currently writing a book on the self-fulfilling prophecy of Uighur militancy. His most recent publication is in the Journal of Critical Asian Studies and is entitled “The Biopolitics of China’s ‘War on Terror’ and the Exclusion of the Uyghurs.”