Jessica Batke

Journalist, Musical Director

Jessica Batke is a writer, songwriter, and musician whose background blends music and art with research and policy. She is the Creator of Everybody Is Gone, the Music Director of Tear a Root from the Earth, and a member of the DC-based folk band Gramophonic. She is also a senior editor at ChinaFile in New York City, where she is the primary editor of The China NGO Project.

Previously, she was a foreign affairs research analyst in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, where she focused on modern Chinese society as well as leadership and governance, including cultural, religious, ethnic, media, and political trends. In 2016, she was a Visiting Academic Fellow at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlin. She has also spent time living in China, Kyrgyzstan, India, and Mexico. She speaks Chinese, (some) Uyghur, and (some) German. She received an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and a B.A. in Linguistics from Pitzer College.