James Robson (born December 1, 1965) is an American sinologist and a James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University and William Fung Director of the Harvard University Asia Center.

[1] Robson is the incoming director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, succeeding Elizabeth J.

[2] Robson received his BA in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1987,[3] and thereafter studied in China, Japan, and Taiwan for several years before pursuing his PhD at Stanford University.

After completing his doctorate in 2002, he worked at Williams College from 2002–2004, and University of Michigan from 2004–2008, where he received tenure in 2008.

Robson's book Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue 南嶽) in Medieval China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2009) received the Stanislas Julien Prize for 2010 by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres [Prix Stanislas Julien by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Institut de France)][6] and the 2010 Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism.