After pausing for May [sorry, just ran out of gas], Scholar Profiles is back! This month: David Stroup @davidstroup, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Chinese Politics at @UoMPolitics who specializes in #Hui (i.e., Chinese Muslim) ethnicity. 
Stroup earned his PhD in 2017 from @OUPoliSci and has published in leading journals such as @NationalitiesP, @AsianSurvey, and @ERSjournal. He’s also provided commentary for @BBCWorld, @washingtonpost and many others. bbc.com/news/world-asi…
I recently read his 2020 article, “‘Why don’t you go to the mosque?’: the problem of epistemic deference in researching everyday ethnicity in Hui Muslim communities.” cambridge.org/core/journals/…
The aim of this excellent paper is twofold: (1) it steadies the ethnographic lens on personal expressions of Islamic piety and (2) it wrangles with (and provides pointers to tame) the unpredictability of ethnography.
A succinct literature review on religious ritual, esp. “everyday practices” & identity, reveals a common methodological obstacle: many non-specialists do not consider themselves knowledgeable enough to speak about their practices, which Stroup calls “Epistemic Deference” (5-7).
From Beijing, Yinchuan, Ningxia, and to Xining, Qinghai, Stroup’s questions about religious practices were met with common responses: “you should really speak to X Imam or Y scholar, not me” (p. 10-11).
Stroup offers an interesting suggestion: the deference itself may be emblematic to Hui communities throughout China whose members often do not receive formal Islamic education, cannot read Arabic, and may perform sacred rituals that incorporate local practices.
Therefore, the imam’s role as exemplar may be even stronger among Hui than in other communities of Muslims.
Based on the challenges he encountered, Stroup concludes the article with an important discussion about research methods. He emphasizes the necessity of “re-center[ing] questions on an interviewee’s individual perspective” (13).
Starting to compile your fall syllabi? this piece would be an excellent choice for courses introducing Islam, Islam in China, and more advanced courses on ethnicity in China.
Congratulations are also in order: David’s outstanding book (I know!) Pure and True will be published this spring by the @UWAPress’ prestigious Studies on Ethnic Group in China series, which is edited by @StevanHarrell uwapress.uw.edu/book/978029574…
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