Research report 2020 - Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Between civilizations: The fate of the Uyghurs
Authors
Hann, Chris
Departments
Abteilung „Resilienz und Transformation in Eurasien“
Summary
China’s minorities policy draws no distinction between tiny groups that can be exoticized through folklore and peoples such as Tibetans, Mongols and Uyghurs with long civilizational histories. The condition of the Uyghurs improved in the 1980s, but deteriorated rapidly thereafter. The ”freedoms” of socialist market economy have rendered minority citizens second-class and put them under extreme pressure to assimilate. We document these macro-level developments on the basis of rural field research in the oasis of Qumul/Hami between 2006 and 2013.