Uyghur Students Research Articles

A Research on The Social Integration of Migrant Children: The Case of Mamak

Throughout history, there have been many social, cultural and economic changes due to migration movements in countries exposed to immigration. Because, by residing temporarily or permanently in the countries they migrate, immigrants both transform themselves and the society they live in. Türkiye has historically been a transit country for immigrants. However, in recent years, there has been a serious migration movement towards Türkiye due to the political, economic and social problems experienced in the surrounding countries. While some of the immigrants in Türkiye immigrated to Western countries, most of them continue to stay in Türkiye. For this reason, it is important for immigrants who are expected to live in Türkiye for a long time to adapt to Turkish society. In this context, in this study, the factors affecting the adjustment level of 90 Iraqi secondary school students between the ages of 9-15 residing in Mamak district of Ankara were investigated. In this study, which was based on Iraqi students, 8 Syrian, 1 Qatari and 1 Uyghur students from the same age group and schools were added, and the sample reached 100 people. In this direction, a questionnaire study was applied to these 100 students to have information about their perception about their adaptation processes. The data obtained were analyzed and interpreted by using the SPSS statistical analysis program. As a result of the analyzes; it has been observed that factors such as having a Turkish or near mother tongue, parental education level, country of origin, income level, number of siblings and length of stay in Türkiye have significant effects on the integration level of immigrant children. In line with the research findings, recommendations for policy and strategic goals were made to decision makers, NGOs and researchers in the field of migration so that the integration processes of migrant children can progress more effectively.

Equity and Access to Higher Education for Rural Uyghur Students in China: A Consideration of Policy and Structural Barriers

This article examines the impact of rural origin on higher education access among one ethnic group, the Uyghur, a Muslim minority group who reside mostly in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with Uyghur university students, graduates, and the faculty who teach them. Since the time of the research, changes in China and in XUAR have impacted education policies, many of which had been developed to provide ethnic minorities in China with better access to higher education. This article discusses some of these policy changes to illustrate that the ways in which policy issues are framed also defines what constitutes the “problem” and thus also constrains the debate.

Ethnic Minority Students’ English Learning Agency: An Activity Theory Perspective

Abstract Recent years have witnessed a growing body of research on the English learning of ethnic minority students in China, yet little is known as to how these students enact their agency to address the challenges they encounter in learning English. Through the lens of activity theory, this qualitative case study explored the manifestations and influencing factors of English learning agency of four first-year Uyghur university students. Data were collected through the students’ journals, interviews, and documents, supplemented by the interview data from their teachers. The findings revealed that Uyghur students’ English learning agency was manifested by reflecting on the gap btween themselves and their Han classmates and adjusting their English learning methods; adapting to the mode of all-English teaching and the rule of English presentation; using tools such as the Mandarin Chinese, English learning apps and the Internet; and seeking help from teachers, peers and other community members. The study also found that Uyghur students’ agency was influenced by factors such as language proficiency, motivation, and personal learning experiences. Additionally, preferential policies of the state and the school, help from teachers and peers, and emotional support from family members also had an impact on their English learning agency. This study provides implications for the English teaching of ethnic minority students at universities.

Teaching Russian to Uyghurs in PRC universities: pedagogical toolkit of nationally oriented methods

The relevance of the study is determined by the search for a compromise in teaching the Russian language to the Uighurs in the universities of PRC. Having completely different mental, cultural and linguistic traits, the Uyghurs and the Chinese study in programs that are focused only on the Chinese audience and do not take into account the characteristics of national minorities. The purpose of this study is to consider the basics of a nationally oriented methodology for teaching Russian to Uyghurs in Chinese universities and to propose its pedagogical tools. The materials were the works of scientists on nationally oriented education and methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language, works on the history and culture of the Uyghur people, as well as a survey of Uyghur students and teachers studying and working at Beijing State University. Methods of complex theoretical analysis and questionnaire-diagnostic were used. The cultural and historical path of the Uighurs was analyzed, which determined their mental characteristics, which must be taken into account when developinga nationally oriented methodology. The results of the survey made it possible to identifythe specifics of teaching the Uyghurs the Russian language and to characterize the main difficulties that students face in universities in the PRC. Ways of solving the indicated difficulties were determined by developing a nationally oriented methodology for teaching the Uyghurs the Russian language and its pedagogical tools were proposed. The prospects of the research are the approbation of the proposed foundations for the nationally oriented teaching of the Uighurs in the Russian language in the universities of the PRC and their further development.

The December 12th Student Movement: Uyghur Student Protest in Reform-Era China

AbstractBy assembling more than fifty hours of interviews with eleven former Uyghur students and teachers, alongside an array of published and unpublished textual documents, this article offers the most complete history of the Uyghur student movements of the 1980s—in the face of considerable neglect and confusion. It argues, first, that the university functioned as a social, intellectual, and political space that allowed Uyghurs to develop their ethno-national identity, build shared grievances, and mobilize politically. Second, it argues that the December 1985 Uyghur student movement was a foundational turning point in the erosion of Hu Yaobang's accommodationist ethnicity policies of the early 1980s, changing how the Party-state diagnosed the reasons for Xinjiang's instability and delimited Uyghur political participation in the People's Republic of China. This article further unsettles later attempts by Chinese scholars to retroactively characterize the student movement as essentially separatist and the work of behind-the-scenes plotters.

‘I never knew I could have so many future possibilities’: a case study of an ethnic minority student in mainstream higher education in China

ABSTRACT As a linguistically and ethnically diverse region in China, Xinjiang has received much scholarly attention in multilingual and multicultural education research. Given that minority Uyghur students need to learn three languages (i.e. Uyghur, Mandarin Chinese, and English), and that they generally have limited access to educational resources, some of these students often feel inferior to their majority Han counterparts when admitted to university where they are expected to compete on an equal footing. Adopting a poststructuralist conceptualisation of identity, we traced the multilingual learning experiences of one underprivileged Uyghur student in this two-year-long case study. Our semi-structured interview, reflective journal, and social media data revealed that drawing upon multiple affordances and her repertoire of communicative resources, our participant felt empowered to reshape her understandings of her future possibilities and to effect a more powerful identity in the host community. This study deepens our understanding of ethnic minority learners’ identity construction and multilingual practices in the process of internal migration. Additionally, this study attempts to advance our knowledge of ethnic multilingual learners’ identity construction by linking individual learner’s investment in multilingual learning (micro-level) to the institutional practices (meso-level) and the national language education policy (macro-level).

Alienation and Educational “Third Space”: English Learning and Uyghur Subject Formation in Xinjiang, China

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2018, this article examines how Uyghurs, a Turkic‐speaking ethnic minority in China, found ways to excel in English language learning despite efforts by the national education system to focus their training in Chinese, the language of the colonizer. It argues that the alienation that resulted from the devaluation of Uyghur knowledge and nonstandard Chinese usage pushed Uyghur students to embody expanded subjectivities in a “third space” of English learning. It concludes with a discussion of how an internment camp system has foreclosed this space of limited autonomy for Uyghur students since 2017.

Prevalence and risk factors for myopia and high myopia: A cross-sectional study among Han and Uyghur students in Xinjiang, China.

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for myopia and high myopia among Han and Uyghur students in Xinjiang, China. This cross-sectional study with a multistage, stratified cluster sampling method was completed in Xinjiang, China. Visual acuity and noncycloplegic refraction were measured. The crude and sex- and age-adjusted prevalence of myopia and high myopia in Han and Uyghur students were compared. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to identify risk factors associated with myopia and high myopia. In total, 84,033 participants were included in the final analysis, comprising 64,110 Han and 19,923 Uyghur participants. The overall age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of myopia and high myopia were 47.70% (95% CI: 47.67-47.74) and 2.55% (95% CI: 2.54-2.56), respectively. Compared to the Uyghur population, the Han population had a higher prevalence of myopia (63.59% vs. 21.34%, p<0.0001) and high myopia (4.68% vs. 0.6%, p<0.0001). Han ethnicity, age, female sex, higher education level and living in urban areas were found to be positively associated with myopia and high myopia. Living in northern Xinjiang was found to be positively associated with myopia but negatively associated with high myopia. Our study investigated the prevalence of myopia and high myopia among Han and Uyghur students aged 4-23years in Xinjiang, China. The Han population had a higher prevalence of myopia and high myopia than the Uyghur population. However, the prevalence of myopia among the Uyghur population showed a more remarkable increasing trend than that among the Han population in Xinjiang.

Uyghur students in higher education in the USA: trauma and adaptation challenges

ABSTRACT As the U.S. higher education student population continues to change and grow, universities need to be prepared to provide adequate support for their unique needs. Yet research has not kept pace with the growth, or the variety of international student experiences. Additionally, research on at-risk migrant and refugee students in higher education institutes (HEIs) has focused primarily on their access and barriers to it, and not on their experience after they enroll. Understanding these challenges is imperative for personnel working in American HEIs in order to provide a high-quality student experience and retain their international student population. This paper addresses these gaps by exploring the unique challenges of one specific refugee and asylum-seeking community in higher education in the United States, Uyghur university students from mainland China. The challenges these students face are identified through a qualitative study including Uyghur students in HEIs based throughout the United States. The paper shows that this student population faces some unique challenges impacting their university experience, and that higher education personnel tend to have a limited understanding of their needs, making it difficult to serve them adequately.

Uyghur college students’ heterogeneous acculturation and related strategies in developed Eastern Chinese Cities

This study examines the acculturation of Uyghur college students to a different culture in universities in developed eastern Chinese cities. This study recruited 12 Uyghur university students from Xinjiang who are studying in two elite universities in eastern China. Research shows that Uyghur students often experience acculturation issues in dietary habits, language, and courses and teaching. These acculturation dilemmas are mainly due to differences between colleges’ and universities’ overall cultural atmosphere in mainland China and Uyghur students’ customs and identity. This study finds that Uyghur students generally adopt two strategies—accommodation without assimilation and ambivalence—when reflecting on their living conditions and development while maintaining their steadfast ethnic identity.

Uyghur educational elites in China: mobility and subjectivity uncertainty on a life-transforming journey

ABSTRACT The Xinjiang Interior Class is one of the most influential but controversial ethnic minority-focused educational policies in contemporary China. The policy recruits ethnic minority youth from their northwest homeland and offers them senior secondary education in eastern and central parts of the country. The literature on the policy is flourishing, yet little attention has been paid to spatial contexts outside of school that also significantly contribute to the interethnic politics of the policy. Drawing on interviews (N=16), participant observations, and questionnaire surveys (N=97) with Uyghur students on a train which took them to their new educational world, this article examines what the students felt, thought, perceived and did during the trip, and analyses how these subjective experiences are related to the process of being mobile. This article finds that the train space is a physical space of mobility, but also an affective space, entailing students’ intensive subjectivity experiences: a conflicting sense of eliteness, reinforced sense of self-discipline, and increased place identity to Xinjiang. The article supplements the current literature by presenting the poetics and politics of subjectivity among Uyghur students in a mobile space, further reinforcing the significance of mobility theories in understanding ethnic migration and its politics in China.

Social Class and Islamic Identity: Chinese Uyghur Students and Working Class in Turkey

Social Class and Islamic Identity: Chinese Uyghur Students and Working Class in Turkey

Effects of orthographic depth on Chinese word naming for Han and Uyghur students

Effects of orthographic depth on Chinese word naming for Han and Uyghur students

The Daily Politics of Inter-ethnic Mingling in the Xinjiangban

ABSTRACT Since 2000, the Chinese government has implemented an ethnic boarding school policy called the Xinjiang Interior Class (Xinjiangban) system in order to promote social mobility and inter-ethnic mingling among the various ethnic groups of Xinjiang. The literature on this topic has focused primarily on the implementation of Han-centric education and Uyghur students’ responses, with little attention paid to the diverse inter-ethnic interactions that constitute everyday politics in the Xinjiangban. In response, this article explores inter-ethnic politics in the Xinjiangban, by interrogating relations between Han school administrators, Uyghur students and non-Uyghur students in these schools. Based on four years of intensive ethnographic fieldwork inside a Xinjiangban in Southern China, the article finds that the program creates secure spaces in which students from various ethnic backgrounds can interact and communicate in meaningful ways, which in turn substantially enhances ethnic mingling but also generates new and unforeseen hierarchies of power as Uyghur students play vital roles in shaping the norms of the student network. The inter-ethnic politics of the Xinjiangban are an ongoing social construction, which are shaped by the power dynamic that exists between Han administrators and ethnic minority students, as well as the majority Uyghur students and those from other ethnic backgrounds.

Education From The Periphery: Intersectionality And Rural Uyghur Students In Higher Education In China

This paper examines how rural origin combines with ethnicity as a factor in higher education access among one ethnic group, the Uyghur, a Muslim minority who mostly reside in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. As one of China’s 55 officially recognized minority groups, many of whom reside in rural areas, Uyghurs make an interesting case study for equality of higher education access. The paper is based on a review of relevant policies, ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with Uyghur university students, graduates, and the faculty who teach them. The paper uses ‘intersectionality’ to illustrate that the circumstances of ethnic minorities from some rural areas are unique and distinct from those of ethnic minorities from urban areas, and thus ethnicity and rural origin should not be considered in isolation in policy-making or research endeavors.

A Study of Relationship between Depression, Personality Traits and Health Risk Behaviors among Uyghur Students

A Study of Relationship between Depression, Personality Traits and Health Risk Behaviors among Uyghur Students Saimire Asikaer Abstract Depression is one of the biggest problems that college students face. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of personality traits and students’ favor of their major to depressive symptoms and risky health behavior. I predicted depression and neuroticism would be positively associated with risky health behavior while conscientiousness would be negatively associated. I also predicted that depression would be negatively associated with the students’ favor of their major and neuroticism. The study was conducted on a sample of 493 Uyghur students from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomic Region. Correlational analysis showed that students’ favor of their major and neuroticism were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. The results confirm that, neuroticism and the students’ favor of major contribute to the depression symptoms. The results also showed that depression contributes to smoking and drinking behavior. The findings helps with the understanding of depression and can be used to develop educational and psychosocial interventions to help students with ensuring a happier and healthier university life. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jpbs.v6n1a3

A cross-sectional study of seroepidemiology of viral hepatitis among Uighurs in Shufu of Xinjiang

Objective: To explore the status of seroepidemiology on hepatitis A, B and C among students and residents aged equal or greater than 18 years in south Xinjiang, and to provide scientific evidence for prevention and control of viral hepatitis. Methods: Uyghur students in four towns and villages were selected by cluster random sampling from Feb to May, 2015, and Uyghur residents aged 18 to 69 years were selected by stratified cluster sampling from May to September, 2016. 4 507 middle and primary Uygur students and 4 833 Uyghur resides equal or greater than 18 years attended this survey. Self-designed questionnaire was used to collect the demographic information. And Elisa test was adopted to detect HAV-IgG, HBsAg, HBsAb and HCV-IgG. Chi-square test was used to calculate the difference on antibody positive rate of three types of hepatitis among the participants. Results: The overall HAV-IgG positive rate was 99.45% (9 289/9 340). The positive rates were 99.70% (4 006/4 018) in male and 99.27% (5 283/5 322) in female (χ(2)=7.95, P=0.005). The HAV-IgG positive rate among people aged 10 to 14 years was the highest (99.91%, 2 233/2 235), and the difference between the age specific HAV-IgG positive rates was statistical significant (χ(2)=38.21, P<0.001). The overall HBsAg positive rate was 4.11% (384 cases), with 4.55% (183 cases) for male and 3.78% (201 cases) for female. The HBsAg positive rate among participants 19 to 24 years old was the highest (9.46%, 21/222) and the differences between the age specific HBsAg was statistically significant (χ(2)=116.22, P<0.001). The HBsAb positive rate was 35.03% (3 272 cases), with 35.59% (1 430 cases) for male and 34.61% (1 842 cases) for female, and the HBsAb positive rate among participants aged 15 to 18 years was the highest, which was 69.12% (696/1 007). The differences between the age specific HBsAb rates appeared statistically significant (χ(2)=671.80, P<0.001). The overall HCV-IgG positive rate was 0.65%(61 cases). The HCV-IgG positive rate in female was 0.86% (46 cases) and 0.37% (15 cases) in male (χ(2)=8.51, P=0.004).The HCV-IgG positive rate among participants aged over 70 years was the highest (3.78%,9/238) , and the difference between the age specific HCV-IgG positive rates had statistic significance (χ(2)=70.30, P<0.001). The HAV-IgG positive rate in hepatitis A vaccinees (100%, 876/876) was higher than that among the non-vaccinees (99.40%, 8 413/8 464) (χ(2)=4.26, P=0.039). The HBsAb positive rate in hepatitis B vaccinees was 39.32% (1 816/4 619) which was higher than that among the non-vaccinees (30.84%, 1 456/4 721) (χ(2)=73.68, P<0.001). Conclusion: The positive rate of overall HAV-IgG was high, male and participants aged between 10 to 14 had higher probability to be infected. But the infection rates of hepatitis B and C were low, with the low vaccination rate and the poor protective effectiveness of hepatitis B.

Examining the English language policy for ethnic minority students in a Chinese university: a language ideology and language regime perspective

ABSTRACTWe focus on the learning of English in a Chinese university in Jiangsu and the university’s preferential language policy, which allowed Uyghur minority students from Xinjiang to be enrolled despite their lower scores in the entrance examination. Guided by the constructs of language ideologies [Kroskrity, P. V. (2000). Regimes of language: Ideologies, politics, identities. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press] and language regimes [Sonntag, S. K., & Cardinal, L. (2015). Introduction. In L. Cardinal & S. K. Sonntag (Eds.), State traditions and language regimes (pp. 3–26). Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press], we adopted an ethnographic approach [McCarty, T. L. (2015). Ethnography in language planning and policy research. In F. M. Hult & D. C. Johnson (Eds.), Research methods in language policy and planning: A practical guide (pp. 81–93). Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell] to investigate how Uyghur students viewed their English learning and how the university responded to macro-level national language planning decisions to foster social harmony. Our findings revealed that the minority students were marginalized in their study of English and disadvantaged compared to Han students. Consequently, we argue for a consideration of the impact of power inequalities in relation to English language learning. Such a critical perspective entails (1) acknowledging the disadvantaged position from which these minority students began their formal education because English was a third language for them [Yang, J. (2005). English as a third language among China’s ethnic minorities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(6), 552–567] and (2) recognizing that access to English education is not equitable because students who attend schools in economically developed provinces such as Jiangsu are more likely to get a better education in English than those from a less developed province such as Xinjiang.

Identity construction through English language learning in intra-national migration: a study on Uyghur students in China

ABSTRACTThis study explores how a group of Uyghur minority students construct their identities in and through English language learning experiences as they move from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to study in a prestigious East coastal university in China. The research findings show that the processes of English language learning enable the ethnic minority students to develop multiple yet powerful identities, that is, a situated elite identity constructed as opposed to other Uyghur members and a positive heritage identity negotiated within the academic community, and allow them to imagine multilingual and multicultural memberships for themselves. The favourable identities thus forged are found to facilitate their adaptation to the host community. However, these minority elites are confronted with a series of problems in learning English compared to their Han counterparts, which hinder their socialisation into the society and upward social mobility. Finally, implications for policy-makers, the host institution, and ethnic students are discussed.

Exploring Uyghur University students’ identities constructed through multilingual practices in China

ABSTRACTThis article explores how a cohort of tertiary-level Uyghur students contested and negotiated their identities through multilingual practices in the receiving community. Drawing upon interview data from fieldwork, this study indicates that these students experienced essentialist understandings and negative views in the host society. Participants symbolically struggled over the ethnicization process and contested stereotypical images by emphasizing the pure use of their mother language and resisting the use of Putonghua within the Uyghur community. However, the participants did not hold consistent and simplified views towards languages. In the host community, participants negotiated an elite identity as ‘Zhendan Uyghur,’ capitalizing on a repertoire of available resources including Putonghua and even local linguistic resources. Moreover, they developed awareness of and utilized the symbolic value of their ethnic resources, and learned and navigated highly valued Chinese knowledge. Despite the legitimate social positions they negotiated and imagined, due to their primordial community belongingness, minority elites faced potential challenges when translating symbolic resources into economic capital in a neo-liberal economy. Implications drawn from the findings are discussed.