Capt (Ret'd) Cheng Xu, PhD
@captcheng.bsky.social
Veteran, paratrooper | Assistant Professor of Government at Smith College | Researcher on insurgency, civil war, genocide, and Southeast Asia | Formerly Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs | Olympic Weightlifter
Proud to share our APMJ paper on digital nomads in #SoutheastAsia, spearheaded by my coauthor Mariana (lead author + fieldwork!). Findings: privilege & remote work, the “hybrid home,” and the paradox of feeling at home while uprooted. Link: journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TZM56... #MigrationStudies
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journals.sagepub.com
October 22, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Proud to share our APMJ paper on digital nomads in #SoutheastAsia, spearheaded by my coauthor Mariana (lead author + fieldwork!). Findings: privilege & remote work, the “hybrid home,” and the paradox of feeling at home while uprooted. Link: journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TZM56... #MigrationStudies
Omg Klarna is recruiting a civil war and genocide scholar? What are they planning over there?
August 16, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Omg Klarna is recruiting a civil war and genocide scholar? What are they planning over there?
Just published in World Development! 🎉
This piece explores how peace agreements and democratization can actually undermine Indigenous self-determination, using the Cordillera region of the Philippines as a case study.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
This piece explores how peace agreements and democratization can actually undermine Indigenous self-determination, using the Cordillera region of the Philippines as a case study.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Autonomy, interrupted: constitutional weakening of indigenous activism from civil war to civil society
This study examines why democratization efforts in the Global South often fail to deliver meaningful self-determination for indigenous peoples. Focusi…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 7, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Just published in World Development! 🎉
This piece explores how peace agreements and democratization can actually undermine Indigenous self-determination, using the Cordillera region of the Philippines as a case study.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
This piece explores how peace agreements and democratization can actually undermine Indigenous self-determination, using the Cordillera region of the Philippines as a case study.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
As delays and shakeups loom over the BARMM elections, we can be sure that if the elections take place in October, Malacañang may be casting the deciding vote. Read my latest analysis in @eastasiaforum.bsky.social with thanks to @duriandiaries.bsky.social
eastasiaforum.org/2025/05/09/m...
eastasiaforum.org/2025/05/09/m...
Manila’s hidden hand in Bangsamoro politics
As BARMM prepares for historic 2025 elections, Manila's political calculations continue to trump promises of meaningful autonomy for Muslim Mindanao.
eastasiaforum.org
May 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
As delays and shakeups loom over the BARMM elections, we can be sure that if the elections take place in October, Malacañang may be casting the deciding vote. Read my latest analysis in @eastasiaforum.bsky.social with thanks to @duriandiaries.bsky.social
eastasiaforum.org/2025/05/09/m...
eastasiaforum.org/2025/05/09/m...
In light of the recent arrest of Rodrigo Duterte on charges of crimes against humanity, I want to reshare this conversation I had with award winning author Patricia Evangelista after the release of her book Some People Need Killing, on who is Rodrigo Duterte.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Speaking Truth to Power
Podcast Episode · The JCR: A Massey Podcast · 11/10/2023 · 31m
podcasts.apple.com
March 11, 2025 at 10:29 PM
In light of the recent arrest of Rodrigo Duterte on charges of crimes against humanity, I want to reshare this conversation I had with award winning author Patricia Evangelista after the release of her book Some People Need Killing, on who is Rodrigo Duterte.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 finally answers my burning question of what happens if Sonic was John Wick.
February 20, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 finally answers my burning question of what happens if Sonic was John Wick.
Normal conversation starter with colleagues in a political science department: “so I was thinking about Mobutu Seso Seko today.”
February 7, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Normal conversation starter with colleagues in a political science department: “so I was thinking about Mobutu Seso Seko today.”
Fellow scholars of Southeast Asian politics can tell you that absolutely nothing can ever go wrong with a sovereign wealth fund.
BREAKING: Trump has signed an executive order creating a Sovereign Wealth Fund- popular with Middle East monarchies - so the U.S. can buy TikTok. That’s state-run media, folks. www.reuters.com/markets/weal...
Trump signs executive order to create sovereign wealth fund
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ordering the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments to create a sovereign wealth fund.
www.reuters.com
February 4, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Fellow scholars of Southeast Asian politics can tell you that absolutely nothing can ever go wrong with a sovereign wealth fund.
Bangsamoro elections moved to May 2026, extending the transition period for the peace process. President BBM to appoint a new transitional government in the autonomous region.
House OKs bill resetting first BARMM polls on final reading
A bill that seeks to reset the first BARMM elections to May 2026 has been approved by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading.
www.inquirer.net
December 17, 2024 at 10:44 AM
Bangsamoro elections moved to May 2026, extending the transition period for the peace process. President BBM to appoint a new transitional government in the autonomous region.
December 15, 2024 at 5:31 PM
My Government and Politics of Southeast Asia students are not to be outdone by my intro to IR students. Here are their memes: 🧵
December 11, 2024 at 10:04 PM
My Government and Politics of Southeast Asia students are not to be outdone by my intro to IR students. Here are their memes: 🧵
My favorite time in the semester is when I get to post the memes my students made in the class. Here are the ones from my intro to international relations class: 🧵
December 11, 2024 at 9:45 PM
My favorite time in the semester is when I get to post the memes my students made in the class. Here are the ones from my intro to international relations class: 🧵
Goodbye neoliberalism, welcome back mercantilism
November 26, 2024 at 3:26 PM
Goodbye neoliberalism, welcome back mercantilism
Political dynasties trying not to deploy election related violence challenge, level: impossible
November 23, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Political dynasties trying not to deploy election related violence challenge, level: impossible
Everyone complaining about Tyson v. Paul perhaps missed the greatest interaction in sport broadcasting history: when Lennox Lewis asked Evander Holyfield in the commentators’ booth if he thought Tyson would bite Paul and if Tyson “bit off more than he can chew.”
November 16, 2024 at 2:50 PM
Everyone complaining about Tyson v. Paul perhaps missed the greatest interaction in sport broadcasting history: when Lennox Lewis asked Evander Holyfield in the commentators’ booth if he thought Tyson would bite Paul and if Tyson “bit off more than he can chew.”
Only took me 7 years to get this piece of paper. Am I a real boy now? @uoft.bsky.social
November 12, 2024 at 1:08 AM
Only took me 7 years to get this piece of paper. Am I a real boy now? @uoft.bsky.social
Very happy to share that this article on drawing on fieldwork in the BARMM over the past year is now online with Democratization. We owe many thanks to SwissPeace for helping us workshop this paper to get it to this stage!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
October 3, 2024 at 2:36 PM
Very happy to share that this article on drawing on fieldwork in the BARMM over the past year is now online with Democratization. We owe many thanks to SwissPeace for helping us workshop this paper to get it to this stage!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
If you think about it, an R&R is just turning your paper into what can be, unburdened by what has been. #phdchat #KHive #AcademicTwitter
July 9, 2024 at 7:14 PM
If you think about it, an R&R is just turning your paper into what can be, unburdened by what has been. #phdchat #KHive #AcademicTwitter
EVERYBODY STOP AND LOOK AT THIS R&R COMMENT I GOT FROM A REVIEWER 2.
I have never felt dopamine levels like this and likely will never reach this high ever again. #phdvoice #phdchat #gradschool
I have never felt dopamine levels like this and likely will never reach this high ever again. #phdvoice #phdchat #gradschool
June 13, 2024 at 2:39 PM
EVERYBODY STOP AND LOOK AT THIS R&R COMMENT I GOT FROM A REVIEWER 2.
I have never felt dopamine levels like this and likely will never reach this high ever again. #phdvoice #phdchat #gradschool
I have never felt dopamine levels like this and likely will never reach this high ever again. #phdvoice #phdchat #gradschool
Academics only want one thing: @phdvoice.bsky.social
March 28, 2024 at 7:21 PM
Academics only want one thing: @phdvoice.bsky.social
We started on this in May 2021. We even presented our findings to GAC to support Feminist International Assistance Policy and the WPS agenda. Finally found a home for it in the journal of Violence and Gender! Thanks to all who supported us and can’t wait to see it online! #phdvoice #phd
March 28, 2024 at 7:21 PM
Okay but why Lululemon selling the medieval peasant from Lower Brittany look for $74.
January 17, 2024 at 3:51 PM
Okay but why Lululemon selling the medieval peasant from Lower Brittany look for $74.
January 2, 2024 at 9:47 PM