Securing China's Northwest Frontier Identity and Insecurity in Xinjiang

In the first study to incorporate majority Han and minority Uyghur perspectives on ethnic relations in Xinjiang following mass violence during July 2009, David Tobin analyses how official policy shapes identity and security dynamics on China's northwest frontier. He explores how the 2009 violence unfolded and how the party-state responded to ask how official identity narratives and security policies shape practices on the ground. Combining ethnographic methodology with discourse analysis and participant-observation with in-depth interviews, Tobin examines how Han and Uyghurs interpret and reinterpret Chinese nation-building. He concludes that by treating Chinese identity as a security matter, the party-state exacerbates cycles of violence between Han and Uyghurs who increasingly understand each other as threats.

Introduction; 1. Securing China on the multi-ethnic frontier; 2. Mass education as an identity-security practice; 3. 'East Turkestan' in China's identity and security narratives; 4. Identity and insecurity after “7–5”; 5. Performing inclusion of the Uyghur other; 6. Han and Uyghur narratives on ethnic and national identity; 7. Han and Uyghur narratives on identity and insecurity; Conclusion: Identity and insecurity in Xinjiang; Appendix 1. Cast of characters; Appendix 2. Lyrics to “one family” – original Mandarin and English translation; Bibliography; Index.

Dr David Tobin is Hallsworth Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.