Negotiating inseparability in China : the Xinjiang class and the dynamics of Uyghur identity

"This is the first book-length study of graduates from the Xinjiang Class, a program that funds senior high school aged students from Xinjiang, mostly ethnic Uyghur, to attend a four-year course in predominately Han-populated cities in eastern and coastal China. Based on longitudinal field research, 'Negotiating Inseparability in China: The Xinjiang Class and the Dynamics of Uyghur Identity' offers a detailed picture of the multilayered identities of contemporary Uyghur youth and an assessment of the effectiveness of this program in meeting its political goals. The experiences of Xinjiang Class graduates reveal how young, educated Uyghurs strategically and selectively embrace elements of the corporate Chinese Zhonghua minzu identity in order to stretch the boundaries of a nonstate-defined Uyghur identity. Timothy Grose also argues that the impositions of Chinese Mandarin and secular Chinese Communist Party (CCP) values over ethnic minority languages and religion, and physically displacing young Uyghurs from their neighbourhood and cultural environment do not lead to ethnic assimilation, as the CCP apparently expects. Despite pressure from state authorities to urge Xinjiang Class graduates to return after their formal education, the majority of the graduates choose to remain in inner China or to use their Xinjiang Class education as a springboard to seek global citizenship based upon membership in a transnational Islamic community. For those who return to Xinjiang, contrary to the political goal of the program, few intend to serve the CCP, their country, or even their hometown. Instead, their homecomings are marred by disappointment, frustration, and discontent"--Back cover WINNER 2020 Central Eurasian Studies Society's CESS Book Award This is the first book-length study of graduates from the Xinjiang Class, a program that funds senior high schoolaged students from Xinjiang, mostly ethnic Uyghur, to attend a four-year course in predominately Han-populated cities in eastern and coastal China. Based on longitudinal field research, Negotiating Inseparability in The Xinjiang Class and the Dynamics of Uyghur Identity offers a detailed picture of the multilayered identities of contemporary Uyghur youth and an assessment of the effectiveness of this program in meeting its political goals. The experiences of Xinjiang Class graduates reveal how young, educated Uyghurs strategically and selectively embrace elements of the corporate Chinese Zhonghua minzu identity in order to stretch the boundaries of a nonstate-defined Uyghur identity. Timothy Grose also argues that the impositions of Chinese Mandarin and secular Chinese Communist Party (CCP) values over ethnic minority languages and religion, and physically displacing young Uyghurs from their neighborhood and cultural environment do not lead to ethnic assimilation, as the CCP apparently expects. Despite pressure from state authorities to urge Xinjiang Class graduates to return after their formal education, the majority of the graduates choose to remain in inner China or to use their Xinjiang Class education as a springboard to seek global citizenship based upon membership in a transnational Islamic community. For those who return to Xinjiang, contrary to the political goal of the program, few intend to serve the CCP, their country, or even their hometown. Instead, their homecomings are marred by disappointment, frustration, and discontent. Timothy Grose is an assistant professor of China studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This study demonstrates persuasively that the Chinese states attempts to producevia delivery of a monolingual Xinjiang Class education in inner Chinaa cohort of Chinese-speaking, Sinicized, secularized, and politically reliable Uyghurs, who will then return to Xinjiang to persuade other Uyghurs to support the Chinese Communist Party line, have had mixed results at best, and at worst constitute a failure. Joanne Smith Finley, Newcastle University This book provides a window into the agency of the Uyghur subjects of the Chinese state-building project. The authors sustained fieldwork in Xinjiang and efforts to reconnect with Uyghur interlocutors multiple times offer an unprecedented glimpse into how members of the Xinjiang class attempt to negotiate between the states objective of producing an educated and loyal Uyghur cohort and their own political, social, and cultural identities and imperatives. Michael Clarke, Australian National University This is a book length study of the Xinjiang Class. Based on a longitudinal field research between 2006 to 2017, a period in which Grose spoke with over sixty graduates of the boarding school programme, the book offers an assessment of the effectiveness of programme in meeting its political goals and a detailed picture of the dynamics of Uyghur identity. The experiences of Uyghur graduates of the Xinjiang Class reveal how young, educated Uyghurs strategically and selectively embrace elements of the corporate Chinese 'Zhonghua minzu' identity in order to stretch the boundaries of a collective Uyghur identity. This identity is expressed through renewed efforts to practice Islam, the insistence on speaking Uyghur, and the reluctance to befriend Han classmates Contents 8 List of Figures and Tables 10 Acknowledgments 11 Introduction 14 Chapter 1: Incubating Loyalty (or Resistance) in Chinese Boarding Schools 31 Chapter 2: Asserting Uyghur Identity from China’s “Central Plains” 63 Chapter 3: Ignoring CCP Calls to Return to Xinjiang 85 Chapter 4: The Disappointing Road Home 103 Conclusion 124 References 130 Index 156 Negotiating,Inseparability,in,China,:,The,Xinjiang,Class,and,the,Dynamics,of,Uyghur,Identity,edited,by,Anna,P.,Y.,Tsui,and,K.,T.,Lai,Hong,Kong,University,Press,2020.,ProQuest,Ebook,Central,http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6118457. Created,from,nyulibrary-ebooks,on,2020-10-19,13:41:18.