Overview
- Examines socio-economic development and identity building in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)
- Highlights challenges faced by the region in terms of cultural diversity, richness in resources, geo-strategic location and environment
- Focuses on the dynamics underpinning social change and disparities in Xinjiang
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About this book
In an unprecedented exploration of space and power in rural Xinjiang, a Chinese region home to the Muslim population of the Uyghurs, this book adopts a grounded theory approach and a trans-ethnic perspective into the complex and sensitive topic of land issues and agricultural land evictions in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. By exposing the dynamics of land acquisition and power building in the politically contested space of the region, the author shows how state owned land in a key commercial and cultural hub on the new Silk Road became a commodity, in a context of violent human interactions driven by power. Relying on previously undisclosed material and on a unique field research among farmers and local authorities, the author retraces the steps of Uyghur peasant workers, entangled in a suspended situation between abandoned rural villages, migration and urban alienation, in a book which explores agency in violent processes of social change, and adds concepts and insights to the current knowledge of how we become modern citizens. The microcosm of Kashgar, an oasis-city in Xinjiang, acts as a mirror reflecting socio political dynamics framing people’s identity. Shedding light on one of the most inaccessible region in China, this book is a key read for academics and a broader public willing to get a clearer view of one of the sourest power struggle in the most contested region within the next superpower.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
Reviews
“Cappelletti provides a highly nuanced and illuminating account of ethnic relations in the region and what it means to be a Uyghur. It is a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature on Xinjiang. … This is a detailed book that will be of interest to scholars researching Xinjiang, the situation of the Uyghurs, as well as research of internal colonies more generally.” (Anna Hayes, China Information, Vol. 35 (1), 2021)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Alessandra Cappelletti is Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations at Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, China. She has a PhD at the Oriental University of Naples and was Joint Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST) and at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Research Center for Global Cooperation of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Socio-Economic Development in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Book Subtitle: Disparities and Power Struggle in China’s North-West
Authors: Alessandra Cappelletti
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1536-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-15-1535-4Published: 02 January 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-15-1538-5Published: 02 January 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-981-15-1536-1Published: 13 December 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXIII, 317
Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations, 39 illustrations in colour
Topics: Social Structure, Social Inequality, History of China, Regional Development