Uighur transnationalism in contemporary Australia: exile, sanctuary, community and future

Hayes, Anna

Abstract

Since leaving their homeland, transnational sentiment among the Uighur community in exile has increased. Like Hess's (2009) findings on the Tibetan diaspora community, since Chinese annexation of East Turkistan in 1949, the Uighur diaspora has developed a diaspora consciousness. This consciousness binds exiled Uighurs to one another and to their former homeland. More recently, technological and telecommunications advancements, combined with increasing exiled Uighur communities in countries in the Global North, has led to an intensification in the enacted diaspora politics by Uighur exiles. Their political activism is centred on two main objectives. Firstly, they hope to raise awareness of human rights abuses that are occurring within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR or Xinjiang). These abuses are primarily centred around Chinese Communist Party (CCP) crackdowns on Uighur demonstrations and separatist activities but they also include the day-to-day inequalities that are widespread in Xinjiang's somewhat divided society. Secondly, they hope to mobilise greater international attention and support for, at the very least, greater self-determination within China as a real autonomous region, or at best, East Turkistani independence.

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Cultures in Refuge: seeking sanctuary in modern Australia

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978-140943475-7

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Ashgate Publishing

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Farnham, UK

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