Uyghur Conceptions of Family and Society
Contributing to existing literature on ethnic studies in China, this book is a study of minority subjective experiences in China, using Uyghur Muslims as a case study. By examining Uyghur conceptions of family and society, it investigates whether or not ethnic minorities are culturally capable of understanding and internalizing global norms on equality, community, citizenship, trust, justice and well-being. Specifically, it empirically examines Uyghur perceptions of issues such as spousal relations, parenting, community engagement and life satisfaction. Using data gathered from fieldwork in rmchi, the author is able to show that there is in fact a high degree of Uyghur conformity to global norms on family and society. In the contemporary context of an Islamic revival and a recent resurgence of Uyghur nationalism, the evidence presented in this book is particularly important to the understanding of the Uyghur ethnic group and other minorities in the region.
Whilst making a valuable contribution to the fields of anthropology and sociology, this book will be useful for students of Chinese studies, Religious studies, Ethnic studies and Social Psychology.
Xiaowei Zang is Professor and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include family and governance in China.
Routledge Studies on Ethnicity in Asia
Series editor: Xiaowei Zang
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
This series provides a timely and important outlet for research outputs on ethnicity in Asia. It will encourage social science debates on theoretical issues related to Asian ethnicity and promote multidisciplinary approaches to the study of ethnicity in Asia.
1 Islam, Family Life and Gender Inequality in Urban China
Xiaowei Zang
2 Language, Education and Uyghur Identity in Urban Xinjiang
Edited by Joanne Smith Finley and Xiaowei Zang
3 Uyghur Conceptions of Family and Society
Xiaowei Zang
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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2017 Xiaowei Zang
The right of Xiaowei Zang to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Zang, Xiaowei, author.
Title: Uyghur conceptions of family and society : habits of the Uyghur heart /
Xiaowei Zang.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. |
Series: Routledge studies on ethnicity in Asia ; 3 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016056817 | ISBN 9780415789370 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315222806 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Uighur (Turkic people)Family relationshipsChina
Urumqi. | Uighur (Turkic people)ChinaUrumqiSocial
conditions. | Uighur (Turkic people)ChinaUrumqiEthnic identity. |
Urumqi (China)Social conditions.
Classification: LCC DS731.U4 Z363 2017 | DDC 306.85089/94323dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016056817
ISBN: 978-0-415-78937-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-22280-6 (ebk)
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This book is the outcome of many years of research on Uyghurs in rmchi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. During the course of writing this book, I submitted works to The China Journal in Australia, Pacific Affairs and World Development in Canada , Asia Women in South Korea , Asian Ethnicity in Taiwan, The China Quarterly, Modern Asian Studies, Racial and Ethnic Studies , Routledge, and Polity Press in the UK, and The Journal of Family Issues , Sociological Focus, and The Journal of Contemporary China in the US. I acknowledge constructive comments on my works from anonymous reviewers and editors, as these comments directly or indirectly influenced my thinking while writing this book. In addition, I gave talks on Uyghurs and ethnic relations at different universities and benefited from comments and criticisms from enthusiastic audiences at City University of Hong Kong, the School of International Studies at Beijing University, the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Sun Yat-sen University, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, East Asia Institute at the National University of Singapore, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, White Rose East Asia Centre at the University of Sheffield, School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Xian Jiaotong University, and the 109th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco in August 2014. Of course, I must bear sole responsibility for whatever shortcomings or errors remain in the manuscript.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the rmchi respondents for their participation in the 2007 survey and interviews in 2005, 2008, and 2011; student interviewers for their hard work during the 2007 survey; and local scholars for sharing with me their insights into Uyghur social life in their beloved city. I thank the Uyghur interviewees for granting me access to their private worlds in in-depth interviews, rendering the writing of this book a more personal experience.
Three research grants from the City University of Hong Kong (SRG#7000995, SRG#7001263, and SRG#7002059-770) supported the 2007 rmchi survey, 200 in-depth interviews with local Uyghurs, and my fieldwork in rmchi between 2005 and 2008. I conducted part of the ethnographic research in rmchi during the sabbatical leave from the City University of Hong Kong in the Fall Semester 2007/2008. I was awarded a travel grant by White Rose East Asia Research Centre at the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds to conduct interviews with Uyghurs in rmchi in 2011, and used part of my research leave from the University of Sheffield to write one chapter for this book in 2013.
Part of draws on my paper Uyghur Support for Economic Justice in rmchi, published in Pacific Affairs in March 2013 (vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 729). Other topics and findings discussed in this book have not been published elsewhere.
Finally, I thank my wife, Yuling, my daughter, Lisa, and my son, Lucien, for their interest in my research project and understanding for my regular absence from home for field research in China. Their love accompanied me in my fieldwork in rmchi and during the course of writing this book in Hong Kong and then in Sheffield, making this research project so much more fulfilling and rewarding.
