Pure and True

"Stroup does a fabulous job personalizing his subjects while keeping a professional distance from them. He also grounds his observations in history, rooting his research not only in the field of Hui studies but in the history of urban development in China more broadly...His deep and thorough fieldwork allows him to draw from a multitude of different interviews from his four research sites (the Chinese cities of Beijing, Jinan, Yinchuan, and Xining) to make insightful and thoughtful conclusions about the ways that Hui Muslims negotiate the expression of their "everyday ethnicity."—Asian Ethnology

"Stroup's prose is lucid and pleasant to read, and his artful anecdotes from fieldwork draw the reader effectively into the midst of the issue at hand. It is rare that a study of ethnicity in China captures the everydayness, even the superficial banality, of negotiating difference, while showing that, under the surface, important tensions continue to simmer."—Inner Asia

"Every once in a while, one comes across a book that presents, in addition to new information and thought-provoking theorization, a precious opportunity for contemplating the great distance one's field has travelled...Stroup's accessible ethnographic descriptions and clear analyses render the book an essential reference for both general readers and established academics."—The China Quarterly

"This book offers a comparative, detailed, and thoughtful critique of China's ethnic politics in the context of China's urban transformation and migrationBy meticulously documenting mundane everyday life concerns, Pure and True does an excellent job of decentering the ethnic or religious identity as the only predominant factor that shapes China's heterogenous Hui communities."—Journal of Anthropological Research

"Makes an important contribution by focusing on the everyday politics of Hui identity, rather than the usual emphasis on ethnic contentious politics and resistance."—Isabelle Côté, Memorial University of Newfoundland