Rana Mitter

Rana Mitter
Mitter in 2013
Born
Rana Shantashil Rajyeswar Mitter

(1969-08-11) 11 August 1969
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Academic background
EducationKing's College, Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD)
ThesisThe Japanese occupation of Manchuria (1996)
Academic work
DisciplineHistorian
Sub-discipline
History of the Republic of China, contemporary politics of China
InstitutionsHarvard University
Websitehks.harvard.edu/faculty/rana-mitter

Rana Shantashil Rajyeswar Mitter OBE FBA (born 11 August 1969) is a British historian and political scientist who specialises in modern Chinese history. He is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.[1]

Early life and education

Mitter, of Indian Bengali descent,[2] was born in Cambridge[3] and grew up on the south coast of England, near Brighton.[4] His father, Partha Mitter, taught art history at the University of Sussex and his mother, Swasti Mitter, was a professor of gender and technology at the University of Brighton.[5] Mitter was educated at Lancing College[6] and King's College, Cambridge, where he received a BA (1992), MPhil (1993), and PhD (1996).[7] He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University in 1993 and 1994.[8] In 1991 he was elected president of the Cambridge Union.

Academic career

He was formerly director of Oxford's China Centre[4] and Fellow and Vice-Master of St Cross College,[9][2][10] and until 2023 was professor of the history and politics of modern China at the University of Oxford.[11]

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.[12][13][14][15]

On 16 July 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).[16]

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to education.[17]

He has published several op-eds for The Guardian on contemporary Chinese politics.[18] He is also a regular presenter for Free Thinking on BBC Radio.[19]

Publications

Books

  • Mitter, Rana (2000). The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance and Collaboration in Modern China. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520221116.
  • —— (2004). A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192803412.
  • —— (2013). China's War with Japan, 1937-1945 : The Struggle for Survival. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0141031453.
  • —— (2020). China's Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press. ISBN 978-0674984264.

Selected articles

References

  1. ↑ "Rana Mitter". Harvard Kennedy School. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 Mitter, Rana (25 October 2013). "Rana Mitter". Outlook India. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  3. ↑ Rivington, James (Autumn 2018). "The Interview: Rana Mitter" (PDF). British Academy Review. p. 37. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  4. 1 2 Wener-Fligner, Zach; Timsit, Annabelle (18 May 2021). "Rana Mitter, the historian teaching China's next generation". Quartz. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  5. ↑ Moody, Andrew (2 November 2012). "Oxford aims for China excellence". China Daily. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  6. ↑ "Professor Rana Mitter, OL". Lancing College. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "RANA SHANTASHIL RAJYESWAR MITTER OBE FBA" (PDF). Oxford.
  8. ↑ "Professor Rana Mitter". Kennedy Memorial Trust. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Rana Mitter". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017.
  10. ↑ Datta, Kanika (30 August 2013). "Virtual Coffee with BS: Rana Mitter". Business Standard. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  11. ↑ "Historian of modern China, Rana Mitter OBE FBA to chair 2024 Cundill History Prize". Cundill Prize. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ Moore, Aaron (February 2014). "China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival". Reviews in History.
  14. ↑ "The start of history". The Economist. 22 June 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  15. ↑ 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.
  16. ↑ "British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed". British Academy. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "BIRTHDAY HONOURS LIST—UNITED KINGDOM". The London Gazette (1st supplement). No. 62666. 8 June 2019. p. B13.
  18. ↑ "Rana Mitter". the Guardian. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  19. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking - Rana Mitter". BBC. Retrieved 1 July 2026.

Further reading