Dr. Stanley W. Toops
I am a cultural geographer focusing on development and ethnicity in China and Central Asia. How did I get here? I grew up in Iowa, worked on a mixed grain - livestock farm, a steel mill and in fast food. I studied geography, politics science and Russian in college. I went to Seattle to study cultural geography, Chinese and Uyghur in graduate school. I lived in Hong Kong and China in the course of my graduate research work. I have been a farmer, a mill worker, a fast food worker, and a teacher; experiences in all of these fields inform my research in cultural geography. My research work is informed by my students' inquiry into global processes. My research interests are in the international aspects of development, culture, ethnicity, and tourism.
I have been researching China through fieldwork for over twenty years. My research in geography and international studies has focused on the Central Asian portion of China, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Much of my research has focused on the interplay of culture and development. My current research agenda examines 1) the development and demography of Xinjiang with that of the Central Asian countries, and 2) tourism development in Central Asia. I have led study groups numerous times to China and Central Asia. I have traveled extensively on the Silk Road: China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey.
In my research, I have published articles on tourism, population, trade, handicrafts, landscapes, politics and ecological issues in Xinjiang, as well as tourism, society, and development aspects of China’s geography. My experience in interviews, fieldwork and qualitative research methods, fluency in Chinese and knowledge of Uyghur, has served me well in past research in Central Asia.
My research considers the impact of internationalization upon Asia and the results of regional implementation of national policies upon the local landscape. At the core of my teaching and research interests are the processes of development and ethnicity in the developing world. I have directed graduate students in their studies of Chinese immigrants in the US, ecotourism in Mexico, urban development and sport in China, economic development in China, automobile production in China, and status of women in India.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Washington, 1990
Teaching Responsibilities
Geography - World Regional Geography - Rise of Industrialism
in East Asia - Geography of East Asia - Geography of the Silk Road
International Studies - Introduction to International Studies - Problems of Non-Western Society - Senior Seminar (International Tourism)
Selected Publications
- "China: A Geographic Preface" in Understanding Contemporary China (3rd edition). Robert E. Gamer (editor). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publisher, 2008.
- International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach" by Sheldon Anderson, Jeanne A.K. Hey, Mark Allen Peterson and Stanley W. Toops, Pearson Custom Publishing, 2006.
- "Demographics and Development in Xinjiang after 1949" in East-West Center Washington Working Papers, Washington DC, No. 1, May 2004.
- "The Ecology of Xinjiang: A Focus on Water" and "The Demography of Xinjiang" in Xinjiang: China's Muslim Frontier, F. Starr, ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004.
- "Xinjiang (Eastern Turkistan): Names, Regions, Landscapes, Future(s)." In Changing China Chiao-min Hsieh, (editor). Boulder: Westview Press, 2003, 411-421.
- "The Population Landscape of Xinjiang/East Turkestan" in Inner Asia 2(2) 2000, 155-171.
- "Tourism and Turpan: The Power
of Place in Inner Asia/Outer China." Central
Asian Survey, 18(3) 1999,
303-318.