Endangered Culture & Language Profile: Uyghurs

One of the central areas of study within the field of linguistic anthropology is the study of endangered languages.  Language loss is a sign of cultural loss, which is a big deal within the field of anthropology.  Language and cultural loss can occur through a variety of means, but the systematic and purposeful extermination is the culprit for language and cultural loss among the subject of today’s blog post, the Uyghurs.  This blog post will discuss the Uyghur language, the Uyghur ethnic group (Figure 1), and the institutional discrimination leading to their ethnocide.

Figure 1: Map of China, with the Xinjiang province highlighted in red

The Uyghur people and language reside in the Xinjiang province of northwestern China (Figure 2).  This is part of the rural hinterlands of the country where many provinces have some of their own basic autonomy/control.  The Xinjiang province is largely populated by the Uyghur, who are one of China’s largest minority groups (n=11 to 13 million).  The Uyghur ethnic group is descendent from Muslim groups who settled various parts of central Asia, including adjacent Pakistan, and the Uyghur language is traced back to Middle Eastern language families.  The language is considered part of the Turkic linguistic family, which further demonstrates a Middle Eastern ancestry of the culture and language. 

Being one of the largest ethnic groups in China the Uyghur have benefited from the autonomy provided by the Chinese government, which allows Chinese citizens the legal right to speak whatever language they chose and provincial governments the ability to identify official provincial languages.  In the Xinjiang province both Mandarin and Uyghur are officially recognized, with the majority of the Uyghur ethnic group being very proficient in their native language.  

Unfortunately, the Chinese government has been eroding away those rights, particularly ramping up their efforts for ethnic extermination of this ethnic group in the past few years.  These initiatives were reported in 2017 when the Chinese government issued a new “bilingual education program” for the entire country.  Under this new program Mandarin was to be the primary and only language spoken during instruction, and all other languages spoken in an area were to be taught as second language courses.  Anyone caught speaking anything outside of Mandarin was subject to “severe punishment”.  The Chinese government rationalized this move by claiming that Mandarin was the language of commerce in China, and by requiring it in curricula meant that Chinese citizens, regardless of ethnic background, would all have equal access for economic success.

Figure 2: Uyghur family (Source: Radio Free Asia)

Shortly thereafter, in the Xinjiang province road signs written in Uyghur were removed, leaving only the Mandarin signs.  The government also began sending out official agents on short or long term exchanges to the Xinjiang province.  They were sent under the guise of teaching Mandarin among local groups, but these agents would report back to the government on the level of Mandarin language proficiency in the population.  Those who were deemed as lacking basic proficiency were sent to “re-education camps”, of which the Chinese government officially recognized as occurring in 2018.  In these camps detainees are forced to speak only Mandarin, go to classes to renounce their faith in Islam, forced to eat pork (which is strictly prohibited by their faith), among other activities.  Various human rights groups have spoken out against these camps, noting that a number of detainees have been killed or disappeared as a result.  Orphaned children of detainees are sent to “boarding schools” where they are treated similarly to their parents.

At the present time the Chinese government has made no moves to end these re-education camps.  Instead they have doubled down their efforts by claiming that it is a national security issue that requires them to keep the camps open.  The Chinese government claims that if the Uyghur are not assimilated into the dominant Chinese culture that they are at risk of being recruited by unfavorable terrorists groups in the surrounding regions.  There has been no evidence to demonstrate that the majority of the detainees are affiliated with terrorists groups, however.

As previously noted language loss is evidence of cultural loss, and in the case of the Uyghur their loss of language and culture is a symptom of a larger problem: ethnocide.  The Uyghur who live outside of China are working diligently to preserve their language and culture through various means, including publishing books and teaching Uyghur language and culture courses.  Many are afraid to publicize these efforts for fear of retaliation against family members still residing in China.  Together the endangerment of the Uyghur culture and language demonstrates the power of loss.

Bibliography

Bouscaren, Durrie. "'We Need to Keep Our Language Alive': Inside a Uyghur Bookshop in Istanbul." Pacific Standard 9 April 2019. Electronic.

London Uyghur Ensemble. Uyghur language. 2013. Electronic. 24 June 2019.

No Author. Uyghur at Indiana University. No Date. Electronic. 24 June 2019.

Shir, Rustem. "China’s Effort to Silence the Sound of Uyghur." The Diplomat 16 May 2019. Electronic.

Sulaiman, Eset. "China Bans Uyghur Language in Schools in Key Xinjiang Prefecture." Radio Free Asia 8 July 2017. Electronic.

Thompson, Ashley. Uyghurs in America Aim To Keep Language Alive. 19 February 2019. Electronic. 24 June 2019.