2025 News UMass Law News: Leo Yu Presented in Multiple Panels at the AALS Annual Conference

Leo Yu Presented at the AALS Annual Conference about the TikTok ban, China, and Historical Materialism.

In January 2026, UMass Law Professor Leo Yu attended the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was invited to present his scholarship by two AALS sections: the Section on Law & Humanities and the Section on Private Law and Race. Appearing alongside leading scholars in Critical Legal Studies and Critical Race Theory—including Angela Harris, Nina Farnia, and Sergio Ricci—Professor Yu presented his work on the intersection of law, geopolitics, and historical materialism. Drawing on the recent TikTok ban as a case study, he illustrated how shifts in the global mode of production, and Western anxiety over losing control of key means of production, increasingly shape U.S. legal regimes. He further situated this anxiety within a global racial framework, arguing that China’s rise in the contemporary “New Cold War” has intensified long-standing racialized fears in the West, where predominantly white populations have historically dominated the cultural and informational spheres of the Global South.

Professor Yu’s presentation was well received and generated robust discussion with scholars from institutions including Duke University, Southern Methodist University, and Washington and Lee University, among other leading academic institutions.