UPDATES FROM 2013 – In January/February 2013 I had some research/lecturing activities back home. In March I was part of the organizing committee of the Second Graduate Workshop on EU-China Relations at Renmin University, where I also chaired a panel on people-to-people diplomacy. I had published this column on the Sino-Japanese dispute for Perspectives Internationales, and a piece on the question of the legitimacy of the CCP for Political Thought. I am now part of the Novi Plamen editorial staff. Big plans for this website, lack of time to execute them.
UPDATES – some publications of the second half of 2012 include this article for EU ISS China Insight series co-authored with Wang Zhengxu; my debut column for Perspectives Internationales (I will write one every month); couple of entries [1, 2] at the China Policy Institute blog (Nottingham University); an op-ed for The Indian Express; and an article (in Serbo-Croatian) for Novi Plamen.
My name is Anastas Vangeli (Анастас Вангели in Macedonian). My Chinese name is 安汉思。 I’m a transplant from the Balkans to China (hence the sarma/chopsticks thing).*
I’m a writer. Some of my works are linked/listed on this website. You can also find some other writings/ideas on what was supposed to be my blog.
Right now I am interested in normative discussions of Chinese politics and the transformation of the CCP; Chinese foreign affairs; nationalism in theory and practice; and global politics. I have a passive interest in behavioral economics and social psychology. I also retain my interest in the Balkans, and post-communist Europe.
I am currently working on a co-edited volume on Sino-European relations; a research on China in the Balkans, with a focus of Macedonia in particular; an auto-fiction project; and have few pending writing gigs – more of that to come soon.
As for my biography.
In the past, I had been part of grassroots political movements, experimented with various forms of arts (like, being in a band) and new media; later on I moved to research and policy oriented non-profits and think tanks. I have completed my graduate studies at the Nationalism Studies Department at the Central European University in Budapest. For about two years I worked for the Center for Research and Policy Making, one of the leading Southeast European think tanks. In 2011 I completed a visiting fellowship at the Brussels bureau of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik), supported by the European Fund for the Balkans. I have also served as a consultant on several other projects, and collaborated with media outlets.
In 2011, my book Античка сегашност. Осврт кон грчко-македонскиот спор за Александровото наследство [Ancient Present: A reflection on the Greco-Macedonian symbolic conflict over Alexander's legacy] came out of print [in Macedonian only]. Soon after, I moved to Beijing, becoming a graduate student in the Contemporary China Studies Program at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China（中国人民大学）。In China, I am part of several research networks and of a group of people that organizes scholarly events, called ThinkIN China.
Other than my writing/research/social activism interests, I am a a former basketball player turned part-time basketball coach, and since 2004/05 author, proud administrator (now only part-time contributor) of NBA Macedonia, the biggest online basketball community in Macedonia.
I occasionally tutor students (TOEFL and academic writing are my specialties), work in the IT (software localization and device testing) and in the new media industry.
You can reach me via email at anastas.vangeli [at] gmail.com. My Skype name is woonitza. My full CV is available on request. I am looking forward to research collaboration requests, comment requests, and work opportunities.
I’ve been blogging on and off since 2004. This blog was my latest attempt. I decided to use it as a personal website instead, and a repository for some of my writings/ideas (to be updated soon).
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* – A wise man once said sarma can be only eaten properly with chopsticks; that way its integrity is preserved and it is not massacred by stabbing and cutting. A proper way to honor the art of rolling sarma indeed.