| ID | 103141 |
| Title Proper | History, identity, and mother-tongue education in Xinjiang |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Schluessel, Eric T |
| Publication | 2009. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | An ethnic identity is not simply a catalyst for collective action; rather, it is an idea, a social variable shaped by its own intellectual history and by the historical consciousness of those who, wittingly or otherwise, engage with and articulate it. As one example, modern Uyghur identity, as it is most widely understood today, is the product, in part, of the action of a series of educational institutions operating in the years before 1949. Intellectuals and activists, beginning in the 1880s, formed networks of schools that provided an organizational basis for social and political movements, as well as a site for the negotiation of the ideas of those movements. Uyghur identity, along with a broader scheme of ethno-national classification, gained currency among a particular sector of Xinjiang society through participation in a set of broader organizations in the Sheng Shicai era. This history is reflected today in the actions and attitudes of contemporary Uyghur intellectuals, who react to encroachment on mother-tongue education with ideas and organizations informed by historical knowledge of this earlier period. |
| `In' analytical Note | Central Asian Survey Vol. 28, No. 4; Dec 2009: p.383 - 402 |
| Journal Source | Central Asian Survey Vol. 28, No. 4; Dec 2009: p.383 - 402 |
| Key Words | China ; History ; Identity ; Institutions ; Uyghur ; Xinjiang |