I’m Jim Sojourner, a PhD student at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill working on the history of China’s island borderlands.

Before heading to the South, I studied US-Asia foreign relations and international political economy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, but my interests in Asia grew out of a half-decade stint in Beijing. There, I helped found an education company and taught English, history, and other subjects to both children and adults. Before moving to China, I worked a journalist for a few small newspapers in Colorado.

Most of what I write here is from my travels, although I’ve thrown up (indeed) some academic work during those more stationary periods.

All writing and photography on this website are mine unless otherwise cited.