People, Place, Race, and Nation in Xinjiang, China

David O’Brien is a Research Associate with the Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. His research focusses on ethnic identity in contemporary China and the interplay between ethnicity and politics. Melissa Shani Brown is affiliated with the Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. Her research interests include the conceptual uses of ‘silence’ in critical theory and cultural texts, and intersectionality.

“David O’Brien and Melissa Shani Brown’s ethnography People, Place, Race, and Nation in Xinjiang, China: Territories of Identity examines the way the identities of Uyghurs and Han are shaped by everyday forms of racialization in northwest China. … The book is the product of a long-term ethnographic research project conducted between 2009 and 2019 in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China. … This book is a significant contribution to the study of contemporary racialization.” (Darren Byler, The China Quarterly, February 15, 2024)

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Being and Becoming Chinese: Nation, Ethnicity, Race in Xinjiang.- Chapter 3. Killing the Weeds: The Re-education Camps, Carcinogenic Culture, and Techniques of Modernization.- Chapter 4. Everyday Others: ethnic divides in Xinjiang.- Chapter 5. The Ethnicity of Time: Policing Identity through Practices.- Chapter 6. Ethnic Difference as a Mortal Threat: the Ürümchi Riots.- Chapter 7. The Past as Envisioned for the Future: Sinicizing Historicized identities in Xinjiang.- Chapter 8. Eating the Other: Assimilation and Commodification of Ethnic Difference.- Chapter 9. Becoming-Modern: Sinicization, Existential Threats, and Secular Time.- Chapter 10. Conclusion: Futures of the New Frontier