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Conclusion

Identity and Insecurity in Xinjiang

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

David Tobin
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Summary

Cycles of violence and insecurity in Xinjiang are reproduced on the ground through relations among Han, Uyghurs, and an ethnocentric state. This book has shown how the party-state’s securitisation of Zhonghua Minzu identity produces multiple identities and insecurities in Xinjiang. These multiple identity-insecurities make the party-state more insecure and it responds with more securitisation, perpetuating cycles of mistrust and violence in the region. The party-state’s production of Zhonghua Minzu, perpetually encircled and infiltrated by multiple threats to China’s identity, hierarchically organises difference between superior, safe Han and inferior, dangerous minorities. Hierarchical nation-building reinforces the differences it aims to convert by targeting Uyghurs as perpetual identity-threats, exacerbating existential insecurities between and amongst Han and Uyghurs on the ground. Targeting Uyghur language and religion as existential threats to China leads Uyghurs and Han to securitise their own identities against perceived threats from each other and the state. The party-state, therefore, exacerbates spiralling cycles of ethnicised violence in Xinjiang that produce the perceived need for nation-building, further perpetuating these cycles and the impossibility of security.

Type
Chapter
Information
Securing China's Northwest Frontier
Identity and Insecurity in Xinjiang
, pp. 222 - 243
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Conclusion
  • David Tobin, University of Manchester
  • Book: Securing China's Northwest Frontier
  • Online publication: 18 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108770408.009
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  • Conclusion
  • David Tobin, University of Manchester
  • Book: Securing China's Northwest Frontier
  • Online publication: 18 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108770408.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • David Tobin, University of Manchester
  • Book: Securing China's Northwest Frontier
  • Online publication: 18 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108770408.009
Available formats
×