Tag: Uyghur

Violence and Nonviolence in the Uyghur Struggle

October 23, 2014

First published at opendemocracy.net on 10 October 2014 as Resistance, repression, and the cycle of violence in the Uyghur Struggle. On Tuesday, September 26, 2014 a Chinese court convicted Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economics professor, to a life sentence on charges of separatism in a disgracefully political trial. Amnesty International’s China researcher William Nee wrote, … More Violence and Nonviolence in the Uyghur Struggle

Xinjiang or East Turkestan: Contending Historical Narratives and the Politics of Representation in China

July 8, 2014

July 5th marked the fifth anniversary of a series of bloody events in Xinjiang collectively labeled as the 7/5 Urumqi riots. Immediately afterward, state and international media set to reporting and analyzing the conflict, scholars and international human rights organizations soon joined. Meanwhile the government in Beijing launched damage control, exerting its monopoly of symbolic … More Xinjiang or East Turkestan: Contending Historical Narratives and the Politics of Representation in China

North Across China: Night Buses, a Bowl of Noodles, and a Rotund Sichuanese Migrant

February 3, 2013

I said a temporary goodbye to Beijing and boarded a night bus for Erlian, the Chinese Mongolian border town renowned for prostitution and gigantoraptor fossils. As the bus pulled away I was surprised by the English inquiry that greeted my unsteady approach to berth 37. There was a helpful tone to this young girl’s voice … More North Across China: Night Buses, a Bowl of Noodles, and a Rotund Sichuanese Migrant

Perusing Walls in China: Posters and Symbolic Power

August 8, 2012

This is the third entry in a series on semiotic analysis, Uyghurs, and public space in China. For earlier entries please see, Deconstructing ‘Minzu’, and Museumized Signification, China and Representational Violence. Or visit my index at the top of the page for all previous articles dealing with Symbolic Power, the politics of representation, China, Xinjiang, Uyghurs, and … More Perusing Walls in China: Posters and Symbolic Power

Scenes from Urumqi, five days before 5 July 2009

July 5, 2012

Three years on from riots and mass arrests in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Chinese authorities continue to silence those speaking out on abuses during and in the wake of the unrest… New testimony reveals that dozens, if not hundreds, of the Uighur ethnic minority, many of whom were arrested in the wake of the … More Scenes from Urumqi, five days before 5 July 2009

The Politics of Representing ‘Uyghur,’ a socio-historical sketch

February 29, 2012

This piece was republished by the World Uyghur Congress. It is also available on their website. At 6pm on Tuesday, the 28th of February violence erupted in the desert town of Kargilik, between Kashgar and Hotan, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Armed with knives or axes (depending on the report), whether desperate … More The Politics of Representing ‘Uyghur,’ a socio-historical sketch