ABSTRACT
This book explores the relationship between language, education and identity among the urban Uyghurs of contemporary Xinjiang. Primordialism, a concept put forward by early anthropologists, refers to the tendency of human beings to attribute power to certain shared givens, such as perceived origins, language, territory or cultural characteristics. Theories in this area are situated at the intersection of developmental and social psychology. The author explains this by noting that early adolescents live in racial and ethnic enclaves and thus may not interpret ethnicity as worthy of exploration. He suggests that this results from the positive social influence of parents, peers and popular media. The Han Chinese is the ethnic majority, whereas the Uyghurs constitute the fifth largest minority nationality. During the Maoist period, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promoted measures to integrate Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China (PRC), and prosecuted some Uyghurs with deviant religious views.
