About
Welcome to my research website. My name is Simon Sihang Luo 骆斯航. I am a political theorist, and currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stanford Civics Initiative. I received my Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University, Bloomington.
My main research focuses on the relationship between historical narratives, future-oriented political visions, and democratic politics. My current book project investigates the uses and abuses of memories of the Cultural Revolution in intellectual and political debates in the post-Mao China (1976-now). By tracing the genealogy of Cultural Revolution memories in post-Mao China, the book project demonstrates how political actors holding different ideological positions make the Cultural Revolution a usable past as they articulate different visions of China’s political future. By so doing, the book project analyzes how the past is useful for democratic and antidemocratic politics in a rapidly changing society, and how narratives of a revolutionary historical event constitute a repertoire of political knowledge for the public sphere.
My peer-reviewed articles, focusing on topics such as democratization, party theory, and citizenship, have been published by American Political Science Review, European Journal of Political Theory, Comparative Political Theory, and Global Intellectual History. I am a frequent contributor to public political discussions in both English and Chinese. My Chinese op-ed articles have appeared on Beijing News Book Review Journal 新京报书评周刊, The Paper 澎湃新闻, Initium Media 端传媒, Oriental History Review 东方历史评论, and other outlets. In English, my public writings have been featured by Democracy Seminar and Palladium Magazine.
I am on the AY24-25 academic job market.
Research Interests
Temporal and regional focuses: Contemporary political theory; Comparative political theory (China/East Asia)
Thematic focuses: Political memory; Political emotion; Democratic theory; Social movements; Party theory; Mourning.
Education
Ph.D., Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2022
M.A., Politics, NYU, 2015
B.A., Philosophy, Tsinghua University, 2013