Tim Oakes photo portrait
Professor of Geography • Cultural Politics; Economic and Social Change; China • Ph.D. University of Washington, 1995
Human Geography
toakes@colorado.edu
303-492-5887, GUGG 201C

Research Interests

My work focuses on social and cultural transformation in contemporary China and, in particular, the uses and reinventions of local culture as a resource for economic development and governance objectives. I have explored this theme in the contexts of ethnic tourism and craft commodity production, cultural heritage development, and urban redevelopment and planning. My most recent research explores the development and use of leisure and consumption spaces in China鈥檚 urban areas, as well as in urbanizing areas of rural China. I am currently working on urban planning and infrastructural urbanism in China鈥檚 鈥楴ew Area鈥� urban zones.

Current Research

I am the project director for "China Made: Asian Infrastructures and the 'China Model' of Development", funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. For more information on this project, see听. A brief article about the project is in A&S Magazine.听Over the past decade, China has invested tremendously in infrastructure development, resulting in dramatic social and cultural changes in both rural and urban regions. It has also promoted an infrastructural development model beyond its borders as part of a newly aggressive foreign policy. China Made will explore both of these domestic and international dimension of China鈥檚 infrastructure development. The project is also meant to shift the academic focus from broader geopolitical and international relations perspectives to a finer grained analysis of the infrastructures themselves and the on-the-ground social and cultural dimensions of their construction. China Made is a partnership between the Center for Asian Studies and the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences.

More Info

I received my PhD in geography from the University of Washington in 1995, and BA in East Asian Studies from Colby College in 1987. I have held visiting faculty appointments at the University of Iowa, the University of Technology Sydney, Guizhou Minzu University, Wageningen University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Hong Kong. I am a research affiliate with the Cornell University Contemporary China Initiative, as well as with the Media Studies Department at the College of Media, Communication, and Information here at CU Boulder.

Recent Courses Taught

  • Fall 2024听 GEOG听3822听听Geography of China
  • Fall 2024听 GEOG 6742听 Seminar in Cultural Geography
  • Fall 2023听 GEOG听3822听听Geography of China
  • Fall 2022听 GEOG听3822听听Geography of China
  • Fall 2022听 GEOG 4002/5100听 Global China
  • Fall 2021听 GEOG听3822听听Geography of China
  • Fall 2021听 GEOG听6742听听Seminar in Cultural Geography
  • Fall 2020听听骋贰翱骋听2092听听Advanced Introduction to Human Geography
  • Spring 2020听听骋贰翱骋听2092听听Advanced Introduction to Human Geography
  • Fall 2019听听骋贰翱骋听6742听听Seminar in Cultural Geography

Recent Publications

  • Oakes, T. 2021. The Belt & Road as method: geopolitics, technopolitics and power through an infrastructure lens. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 62(3): 281-285.
  • Oakes, T. and Y. Yang. 2021. Dance machine: performing the city in China鈥檚 public space. Civilizations 69(1): 49-66.
  • Oakes, T. and Z. Zuo. 2022. Remoteness and connectivity: the variegated geographies of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Highland Asia, pp. 418-429 (London & New York: Routledge).
  • Oakes, T. 2022. Ordering the frontiers: purification projects as a territorializing strategy in southwestern China. Eurasian Geography and Economics. .
  • Oakes, T. 2022. From creation city to infrastructural urbanism: the Chinese National New Area as an infrastructure space. In Hirsh, M. and Mostowlansky, T. (eds.), Infrastructure and the Remaking of Asia, pp. 157-177 (Honolulu: University of Hawai鈥檌 Press).
  • Chen, X. and T. Oakes. 2023. Time-space companions: digital surveillance, social management, and abuse of power during the Covid-19 pandemic in China. Critical Asian Studies. .
  • Oakes, T. 2023. The National New Area as an infrastructure space: urbanization and the new regime of circulation in China. The China Quarterly 255, 575-590.
  • Rippa, A. and T. Oakes. 2023. Infrastructural thinking in China: a research agenda. The China Quarterly 255, 547-559.

Updated January, 2024