Biziuk, Eva Sophia
Uyghur-China Conflict: The Role of Religion.
Master thesis, Master Religion Conflict and Globalisation.
Abstract
In recent years, the Uyghurs have received attention from news outlets to governmental institutions due to the actions the governing body Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has taken towards this group. An ethnic minority with Turkic roots and Islam as its main religion, the Uyghurs are part of domestic discourse on Muslim extremism and terrorism. In the past years a considerable amount of scholarly research has been published on the interaction between the CCP and the Uyghurs in the context of this Muslim extremism and terrorism. What misses in the current ongoing debate of the CCP and the Uyghurs is the focus on what drives the CCP to engage in religious politics in the first place. Specifically, the role of discourse and power.
What the domestic debate on religion in the People’s Republic China (PRC) seems to suggest is a relation between shifting positions of religion in politics and the discourse expressed with regards to religious affairs. The report of the 19th National Congress lays the foundation from which these developments take place: a renewed emphasis on building a socialism with Chinese characteristics and the goal of national rejuvenation coined as the “Chinese Dream.” The merge of the governmental body State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) that follows only a year after the publication of the report signals the increasing power of the CCP over religious affairs and can be interpreted as a necessary means for the CCP to secure socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese dream.
To bring to the surface the underlying relations between the shifting position of religion in politics through discourse, the researcher aims to explain how the CCP’s discourse on religion has affected the Uyghur in the past five years (2017-2022). Through a discursive power theory, a theory new in research that focuses on CCP discourse on religion, it will be explained how discourse is an important tool for the CCP to enhance social stability.
| Type: |
Thesis
(Master)
|
| Supervisors (RUG): |
| Supervisor | E-mail | Tutor organization | Tutor email |
|---|
| Wilson, E.K. | | Faculteit GGW, Christendom en Ideeengeschiedenis | E.K.Wilson@rug.nl | | Buitelaar, M.W. | | Faculteit GGW, Vergelijkende Religiewetenschap | M.W.Buitelaar@rug.nl |
|
| Degree programme: |
Master Religion Conflict and Globalisation |
| Academic year: |
2021-2022 |
| Date of delivery: |
01 Dec 2022 13:04 |
| Last modified: |
01 Dec 2022 13:04 |
| URI: |
https://ggw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/714 |
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