Hello! My name is Junius Brown (rhymes with “Julius”), and I am a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Economy (4-year) at Duke Kunshan University. Before that, I was a PhD student in the Travers Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in May 2024.

My three-part dissertation explored the way in which Chinese citizens and government officials interact on online help forums like the Message Board for Leaders. In particular, I focused on how letter-writers put on performative displays of citizenship in order to appeal to local officials, and how local officials respond to their requests. My published work appears in Asian Survey and The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Citizenship.

I highly value teaching as a core part of my academic contribution. In 2021 I received an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award from UC Berkeley’s Teaching and Resource Center, and in 2024 I completed the Learning Innovation Fellowship hosted by DKU’s Center for Teaching and Learning. At DKU I teach International Development, International Political Economy, Political Economy of Institutions, and China in the World. You can find a detailed list of the courses I have taught here, and a summary of my course evaluations here.

As of January 2025, I am now living in Kunshan and working in-person at DKU. I tend to drop by Shanghai every now and then, so if you’re in the area, let me know and I’d be happy to grab tea or coffee. I will also be attending the APSA 2025 Annual Meeting in Vancouver this September, to present on the panel “Framing Anti-Democratic Actions” (Saturday 9/13, 8:00-9:30am); feel free to reach out to me if you want to chat during the conference.