Paper abstract:

Despite their small population, Central Asian Dungans are of interest to scholars because they provide a particularly challenging case study of Soviet nationalities policy. Dungans fit especially poorly into Stalin's definition of nationhood, and while they are clearly separated from their neighbors by language, religion, and livelihood, these traits are not sufficient to explain the emergence of a distinct Dungan nationality. Scholars have previously focused on Dungan language, folklore, and material culture to explain their distinct identity. By contrast, this study draws on Rogers Brubaker's theory of nation as a "category of practice" in order to identify historical factors that contributed to a unique Dungan nationality. Specifically, it uses published government documents and memoirs to examine the role of Dungans in the 1916 Revolt against Tsarist rule in Semirech'e. The 1916 Revolt was a watershed event that presaged later violence and civil unrest. While studies of the Revolt generally focus on its consequences for Kazakh and Kyrgyz populations, it was also a pivotal moment for smaller ethnicities. This study shows that Dungans' unique socioeconomic circumstances and connections to Chinese Xinjiang placed them in conflict with both Russian settlers and nomadic populations in 1916. Lingering distrust following the violence and return of Dungans from Xinjiang solidified their separate group identity. The need to demonstrate loyalty to the Soviet Union in the wake of this violence caused the "indigenization" of the Dungans as a particularly Soviet nationality. Finally, Soviet Dungans later invoked the events of 1916 to demand cultural and territorial autonomy.