Carlos Rojas (born 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia)[1] is an American sinologist and translator. He is currently Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. He is a cultural historian and his work and teachings primarily focus on Chinese culture. He also teaches the subjects of film, gender, sexuality, and feminist studies. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1995 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2000.[2] Before his professorship at Duke, Rojas was Assistant Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Film at the University of Florida.[3] Rojas lives in Durham, North Carolina.[1]
Carlos Rojas and Eileen Cheng-yin Chow translated Yu Hua's novel Brothers. Their translation was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize.[4] Rojas has also translated several books by Chinese novelist and short story writer Yan Lianke.[5][6][7] His translation of Yan Lianke's The Four Books was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize.[8] Isabel Hilton of The Observer called it "impeccably" translated.[9] His translation of Yan Lianke's The Explosion Chronicles was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize,[10] the 2017 Pen Translation Prize,[11] and the 2017 National Translation Award in Prose.[12] The Economist praised Rojas' "robust and well-paced translation."[13] The Guardian called his translation a "model of clarity."[14]
Rojas served on the jury of the 2015 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature and the 2020 Dream of the Red Chamber Award.
In 2010, Rojas published The Great Wall: A Cultural History through Harvard University Press. The book is a survey of the Great Wall of China and its function and significance. In it, Rojas examines allusions to the Wall from various historical texts and cultural works.[15][16]