The Uyghurs are one of the ten most populous stateless nations in the world. While the Uyghur people have a long history of cultural accomplishments and political influences, they have remained marginal in international scholarship given their ambiguous position both in regional studies and in geopolitics. Nonetheless, given the contribution of Uyghurs to global and regional historical and cultural processes, there has developed a transnational community of scholars whose research is focused on the Uyghur people’s history, culture, society. This conference is the first attempt to bring together a broad spectrum of this international community of scholars, drawing from the academic communities of the Americas, Russia, Turkey, and elsewhere in Europe and Asia. Hopefully, it will serve as a basis for future transnational collaboration on the history, culture, and society of Uyghurs throughout the world.
Thursday, September 25, 2014, Lindner Commons, 6th floor
9:00-10:00am Opening
10:00-11:00am
Session 1: The Policy Debate
Chair: Marlene Laruelle (George Washington University)
Sean R. Roberts (George Washington University)
Michael Dillon (Independent scholar, formerly Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham)
Gardner Bovington (Indiana University)
Henryk Szadziewski (Uyghur Human Rights Project)
Seyit Tumturk (World Uyghur Congress, Turkey)
11:00-11:30am Coffee break
11:30-12:45pm Session 2: Roundtable Discussion – Uyghurs in Geopolitics Over Time
Chair: Sean R. Roberts (George Washington University)
Dru Gladney (Pacific Basin Institute, Pomona College)
James Millward (Georgetown University)
Alexander Lukin (Vice-President for research and international cooperation at the Diplomatic Academy)
Erkin Ekrem (Hacettepe University, Turkey)
Yunus Koç (Hacettepe University, Turkey)
12:45-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3:00pm
Session 3: Uyghur Social Cohesion, Identity, and Resistance
Chair and Discussant: Dru Gladney (Pomona College)
Michael Dillon (Independent scholar, formerly Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham)
Religion, repression and traditional Uyghur culture in southern Xinjiang: Kashghar and Khotan (2010-14)
Nathan Light (Professor, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University)
Uyghur Social Networking and Chinese Censorship: Before and After 2009
Rachel Harris (SOAS, University of London)
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Illegal Gatherings: Reflections on the Uyghur Meshrep
Sean R. Roberts (George Washington University)
‘Uyghurstan is Where the Home is’. “Self-Governmentality” and the Maintenance of Uyghur National Identity without a State
Mamtimin Ala (Vice President of the World Uyghur Congress)
Between Utopia and Dystopia: Uyghur Intellectuals from 1949 to 2000
3:00-3:30pm Coffee break
3:30-5:30pm
Session 4: Xinjiang under Chinese Influence
Chair and discussant: Michael Dillon (Independent Scholar)
Gardner Bovington (Indiana University)
Taking a Mulligan: New Minzu Policies in Search of Appropriate Problems
Joanne Smith (Newcastle University, UK)
The Redistribution of Wealth or Consolidation of Majority Han Power? The ‘National Partner Assistance Programme’
Stanley Toops (Department of Geography, Miami University, Ohio)
The Demography of the Uyghur: Spatial Results of the 2010 Census of Xinjiang
Remi Castets (Assistant Professor, Michel de Montaigne University, Bordeaux)
Uyghur Islam and State Control Policies in Xinjiang
Kara Abramson (Independent scholar, USA)
Understanding and Promoting Human Rights in Xinjiang: Challenges and Opportunities
7:00pm Dinner for Participants
10:00-11:00am
Session 1: The Policy Debate
Chair: Marlene Laruelle (George Washington University)
Sean R. Roberts (George Washington University)
Michael Dillon (Independent scholar, formerly Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham)
Gardner Bovington (Indiana University)
Henryk Szadziewski (Uyghur Human Rights Project)
Seyit Tumturk (World Uyghur Congress, Turkey)
11:00-11:30am Coffee break
11:30-12:45pm Session 2: Roundtable Discussion – Uyghurs in Geopolitics Over Time
Chair: Sean R. Roberts (George Washington University)
Dru Gladney (Pacific Basin Institute, Pomona College)
James Millward (Georgetown University)
Alexander Lukin (Vice-President for research and international cooperation at the Diplomatic Academy)
Erkin Ekrem (Hacettepe University, Turkey)
Yunus Koç (Hacettepe University, Turkey)
12:45-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3:00pm
Session 3: Uyghur Social Cohesion, Identity, and Resistance
Chair and Discussant: Dru Gladney (Pomona College)
Michael Dillon (Independent scholar, formerly Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham)
Religion, repression and traditional Uyghur culture in southern Xinjiang: Kashghar and Khotan (2010-14)
Nathan Light (Professor, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University)
Uyghur Social Networking and Chinese Censorship: Before and After 2009
Rachel Harris (SOAS, University of London)
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Illegal Gatherings: Reflections on the Uyghur Meshrep
Sean R. Roberts (George Washington University)
‘Uyghurstan is Where the Home is’. “Self-Governmentality” and the Maintenance of Uyghur National Identity without a State
Mamtimin Ala (Vice President of the World Uyghur Congress)
Between Utopia and Dystopia: Uyghur Intellectuals from 1949 to 2000
3:00-3:30pm Coffee break
3:30-5:30pm
Session 4: Xinjiang under Chinese Influence
Chair and discussant: Michael Dillon (Independent Scholar)
Gardner Bovington (Indiana University)
Taking a Mulligan: New Minzu Policies in Search of Appropriate Problems
Joanne Smith (Newcastle University, UK)
The Redistribution of Wealth or Consolidation of Majority Han Power? The ‘National Partner Assistance Programme’
Stanley Toops (Department of Geography, Miami University, Ohio)
The Demography of the Uyghur: Spatial Results of the 2010 Census of Xinjiang
Remi Castets (Assistant Professor, Michel de Montaigne University, Bordeaux)
Uyghur Islam and State Control Policies in Xinjiang
Kara Abramson (Independent scholar, USA)
Understanding and Promoting Human Rights in Xinjiang: Challenges and Opportunities
7:00pm Dinner for Participants
Friday, September 26, 2014, State Room, 7th floor
9:00-10:30amSession 5: The Transformation of Uyghur Language and Landscapes
Chair and Discussant: Sean R. Roberts (The George Washington University)
Arienne Dwyer (University of Kansas)
The Emergence of Diasporic Uyghur Language
Giulia Cabras (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales-INALCO, France)
Uyghur-Chinese Code Switching in Xinjiang’s Urban Areas: Interactional and Sociocultural Aspects
Erkin Emet (Ankara University, Turkey)
The Effect of Chinese language on Uyghur language
Jean-Paul Loubes (Ecole d’Architecture Paris-La Villette, France; Laboratory Architecture of Paris-La Villette)
The Transformation of the Oasis Cities in Xinjiang: the Case of Kashgar
10:30-11:00am Coffee break
11:00-12:30pm
Session 6: The Forgotten Diaspora? Uyghurs in Post-Soviet Central Asia
Chair and Discussant: Remi Castets (Science PO-CERI, Paris)
Ivan Safranchuk (Moscow State Institute of International Relations)
Great Game? Politics, Business, and Security in Central Asia
Ilkhamzhan Musaev (Independent scholar, Bishkek)
Formation and Development of the Uyghur Ethno-Cultural Identity in Kyrgyzstan
Ablet Kamalov (Institute for Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences, Almaty)
Diaspora and Identity: Discourse of Homeland (Watan) in the Uyghur communities of post-Soviet Central Asian Countries
Guzel Maitdinova (Center for geopolitical Studies, Russian-Tajik University, Dushanbe)
The Uyghur Diaspora in Tajikistan. History, Culture and Current Situation
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3:00pm
Session 7: Uyghurs in Multinational Empires
Chair and Discussant: Nabijan Tursun (Independent Scholar, DC)
Yuliy Drobyshev (Institute for Oriental Studies, Academy of Science, Moscow)
Some Features of Interrelations Between the Uighur Khanate and China
Aleksandr Kadyrbaev (Institute for Oriental Studies, Academy of Science, Moscow)
Uyghurs in the Mongol empires, 13-14th centuries
Liudmila Chvyr (Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
The Uyghur model of Ethnocultural Interactions in the 19th century
Dinara Dubrovskaia (Institute for Oriental Studies, Academy of Science, Moscow)
Qing Dynasty and Uyghurs. Controversy over the Question of Reconquering Xinjiang
3:00-3:30pm Coffee break
3:30-5:30pm
Session 8: Russian and Soviet Influences on Uyghurs’ Destiny
Chair and Discussant: James Millard (Georgetown University)
Aleksandr Vasiliev (Institute for Oriental Studies, Academy of Science, Moscow)
Documents from Russian and Ottoman Archives on the Destiny of Bek-Kuli Beg, Son of Jakub-beg
Valerii Barmin (Professor, Head of Chair, Altai State Pedagogical Academy)
Sabine Trebinjac (Professor, Laboratory of Ethnology and Comparative Sociologie (LESC), CNRS and Nanterre University, France)
Anthropological Survey in the Komintern Archives: The Announced Bankruptcy of the Soviet Annexation of Chinese Turkestan
Vladimir Boyko (Professor of Asian Studies at Altai State Pedagogical Academy; Research Associate at Altai State University, Barnaul)
Ethnicity, Conflict and Development of Xinjiang 1910s-2010s in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Scholarship and Analysis
Anna Bondarenko (Independent Scholar, formerly research fellow at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Academy of Science, Moscow)
State of the Research on Xinjiang in Russia in the 2000s
Nabijan Tursun (Independent Scholar)
Uyghur Ethnic-Political Orientation and the Soviet Union
7:00pm Dinner for Participants
Saturday, September 27, 2014, Lindner Commons. 6th floor
9:30-11:00am
Session 9: New Discoveries of Uyghur Ancient History and Culture
Chair and Discussant: Victor Mair (Pennsylvania University)
Dmitri Vasiliev (Oriental History Department, Institute of Oriental Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences)
Uyghur Fortress in Tuva and new Discoveries of Turkic Runic Inscriptions
Sergey Dmitriev (Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Asian and African States, Moscow State University)
Bilingual ‘Stela of Merits of Generations’ of Iduq-quts, Kings of Gaochang as an example of Uyghur historiography
Risalat Karimova (Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences, Almaty)
Uyghur Religious Places in the 14-19th centuries. The Birth a new Architectural Style
Ablet Semet (Department of Turcology and Centralasien Studies, Georg-August-University Goettingen)
New Studies and Results Concerning the Old Uyghur ‘Maitrisimit nom bitig’
11:00-11:30am Coffee break
11:30-1:00pm
Session 10: Uyghur Oral and Written Traditions Through the Ages
Chair and Discussant: Dolkun Kamberi (Radio Free Asia, Washington DC)
Tatiana Anikeeva (Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
On Some Mythological Plots in the Ancient Uyghur Literature
Almican Inayet (Professor of the Turkish World Research Institute, Ege University)
The Role of Uygur Folk Literature On the Construction of Uyghur’s National Identity
Metin Ekici (Professor, Director of the Turkish World Research Institute, Ege University)
An Overall Assessment About the Studies On the Epics of Turkish World
Rian Thum (Assistant Professor, Department of History, Loyola University New Orleans)
Text and Practice in Uyghur Islam
1:00-2:00pm Lunch and Wrap-Up
