Abstract:

The upsurge of national populist movements across the globe, and the accompanying ‘chauvinistic’ turn that it represents, have largely been elusive for the globalists. It is the lack of historical perspective that explains globalists' elusion. A comprehensive analysis of this historical conjuncture calls for a critique of the state-form, a critique that can open up its fault lines. Nation-states as a political form for long have been a pile of contradictions, both internally and externally. The internal as well as the external contradiction of this political form are disguised by the trajectory of two categories, the people and the state. This paper proposes to critically examine and map the trajectories of these two categories in modern China in relation to the question of ethnicity.

Ethnicity is one significant fault line in modern China, a fault line that goes back to the very formation and foundation of it. Several scholars have largely overlooked the question of ethnicity in China, given its pre-dominant Han identity. However the supposed ethnic unity and homogeneity of China has come under critical scrutiny in recent times. The rise of ‘ethnic’ movements, if not nationalist, like Uyghurs and Tibetans, have challenged the homogeneity claim and drawn attention to the problematic status of a homogeneous Han identity. This paper builds upon the experience of Uyghurs in modern China to bring out the problematic status of Uyghurs in the construction of Chinese nation and Chinese people. The Uyghur experience draws attention to some of the insidious aspects of Chinese state and Chinese nationalism. The Uyghurs, inhabitants of Xinjiang region, experienced Chinese state and ‘unification’ of ‘Chinese people’ not only differently but also as a coercive apparatus. The political necessity of ‘unification’ and curbing of ‘vociferous’ elements in Chinese society impelled identification of ‘divisive’ elements. The Uyghurs with their own distinct culture, religion and world outlook appeared as an obstacle in the path unification of the people and the state. The Chinese policy towards the Uyghurs therefore took the twin forms of assimilation and coercion. There is an entire historical trajectory of Chinese policy towards the Uyghurs. Given that these identities were not completely malleable, Chinese state mobilized a range of instruments and policies to ensure its implementation. This paper maps the contradiction of ethnic difference in the making of modern China to bring out the element of violence as an immanent part of Chinese nationalism.