Rune Steenberg is an anthropologist researching the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Uyghurs. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Xinjiang, Central Asia, China, and Indonesia and has published widely on topics ranging from kinship to cross-border trade, narratives, and mass incarceration.

Steenberg received his Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin in 2014 and is currently a researcher at Palacky University Olomouc. Since 2018, Steenberg has also worked as a Uyghur interpreter for asylum seekers, activists, journalists, and human rights organizations and has participated in several documentary films on the tragedies in Xinjiang.

Last Updated: August 4, 2022

Features

08.04.22

In What Purport to be Lifestyle Videos, Uyghur Influencers Promote Beijing’s Narrative on Their Homeland

Rune Steenberg & Seher
For the past few years, Uyghur and other young members of ethnic minority groups from Xinjiang have been creating videos like Anniguli’s in which they appear to display details of their personal lives while simultaneously evincing support for the...