Uyghur Week 2024: Dec 9th-13th
Protecting Uyghur Language: The Fierce Urgency of Now
On December 9th, Dr. Eziz gave a presentation on the history of the Uyghur people and the need to preserve their language. She noted that the Uyghur people were a mix of native Tocharian-speakers in the Tarim Basin and various Turkic-speaking tribes. As a result, their long and diverse history spanned several centuries. Dr. Eziz underscored that the teaching of Uyghur has undergone immense transformation in China, especially since 2017. In the 1950s, she said that there was both a monolingual and bilingual education system in China, and that from the 1950s until the 2000s, Mandarin Chinese was taught to Uyghurs as a second language. However, in the 2000s, she explained, a bilingual education system was created where many subjects became only taught in Mandarin, and high schoolers, especially, were only taught in Mandarin, with very few Uyghur lessons per week. Dr. Eziz focused then on the aftermath of September 2017, when Uyghur was no longer allowed to be taught at all in schools. This has led, she argued, to forced assimilation and language suppression. Dr. Eziz pointed out that this has coincided with a genocide against Uyghurs, as the CCP views Uyghur language and culture as a threat to stability. She emphasized the need to preserve the Uyghur language through documentation, supporting Uyghur diaspora initiatives (such as the Uyghur Academy), language teaching, international pressure to allow Uyghurs to teach their language, and broader community action.
Dr. Gulnar Eziz earned her PhD in Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Kansas, where she also served as a Research and Teaching Assistant in Uyghur and Chaghatay. Since 2020, she has been a Preceptor at Harvard University, where she teaches Chaghatay and Uyghur languages.
My Homeland Through the Camera Lens: A Photography Exhibition and Lecture
Ablikim Emet came to IU on December 9th, in order to exhibit his beautiful photography of the Uyghur Region. Mr. Emet has won numerous awards for his photographs in Xinjiang, Beijing, and Shanghai. Ablikim Emet spoke in Uyghur for his presentation, while his wife translated. The photographs were of various geographical, natural landscapes, such as mountains, lakes, rivers, and grasslands. Then there was a performance of three Uyghur songs, by Uyghur musician, Muhtar Janbaz. At the same time, outside the exhibit, there were bookcases of Uyghur books on display.
Endangered: A Watercolor Journey Through the Uyghur Homeland
International audiences in the Hamilton Lugar School were treated, on Wednesday, December 10th, to watercolor paintings by artist, Joy Bostwick. Audience members saw vibrant, expressive paintings of Uyghur life and culture. These were high quality watercolor prints, that allowed the onlooker to learn about Uyghur art, clothing, and everyday life. In particular, Joy Bostwick focuses on the beauty of often overlooked communities, as well as those at risk of danger from their governments.
Documentary Screening: All Static and Noise
On Wednesday, December 10th, a diverse audience, attendees being both from and outside of the IU community, gathered at IU Cinema to watch the documentary film “All Static and Noise”. The film documents the current genocide of Uyghurs by the Chinese government in Xinjiang/East Turkestan/the Uyghur region. The film begins with Jewher Ilham, a human rights activist and an alumna of the Departments of Central Eurasian Studies, Near Eastern Studies, and Political Science at IU, speaking about the arrest of her father, famed Uyghur scholar, Ilham Tohti. Ilham Tohti was arrested on charges of separatism by the Chinese authorities. Through his story, Jewher and the documentary crew, are led to many other stories by Uyghur people about their detention, torture, abuse, and harassment by the Chinese Communist regime. For example, we meet Abduweli Ayup, a Uyghur linguist, who was arrested for opening a Uyghur kindergarten. Abduweli Ayup has been interviewing hundreds of Uyghurs, now in the diaspora, about their stories of arrest and persecution. Through interviewees of Jewher and Abduweli, the audience was exposed to the ongoing efforts to fight for justice and human rights for the Uyghur people. At the end of the film, Professor Gardner Bovingdon led a Q&A session with Jewher Ilham, Abduweli Ayup, and Janice Englehart.
Impacts of Intense Development and Unsustainable Land Use on the Ecological Environment in the Uyghur Region
On December 11, the Inner Asian and Uralic Resource Center hosted our final lecture, for the Fall Semester, of our series “Environments of 21st Century Central Eurasia.” We were pleased invite Dr. Payzulla Zaydun to give his presentation “Impact of Intense Development and Unsustainable Land Use on the Ecological Environment in the Uyghur Region” during Uyghur Week at Indiana University. Dr. Zaydun was born and raised in Korla, and attended Xinjiang University where he studied environmental science. In 1986 he graduated with honors and began teaching at Xinjiang University for the next 12 years. However, in 1998 he moved to Japan where he received his Doctorate in Environmental Science from Rissho University. In 2006 he moved to the United States, changed professions, and began working as an engineer. In 2014 he joined JLG Industries where he now works as a Senior Supply Chain Engineer. Although he has moved away from Environmental Science, Dr. Zaydun has continued to remain up to date on developments within the field.
In his lecture, Dr. Zaydun focused on the environmental challenges which are threatening the Uyghur region in China. Over irrigation coupled with global warming and increased migration to the region has created an unsustainable strain on water resources. Since the 1960s and 70s, the surface area and volume of glaciers in the Uyghur region have decreased by 14%. It is believed that with rising temperatures, the Urumqi Glacier, one of the largest in the region, will have melted completely by 2050. The vast majority of the region’s freshwater relies upon its glaciers. Dr. Zaydun noted that between the 1950s and 1980s the surface area of the region’s lakes decreased by 51%. Lop Nur, once the largest lake in the region was dried out by dams and over-irrigation of its rivers by 1964.
The strain on the regions water resources is the result of an increasing population from migration as well as an effort to create more arable land with irrigation. However, Dr. Zaydun emphasized that this trajectory will ultimately be unsustainable once the region’s water resources are depleted. Dr. Zaydun’s presentation was extremely informative on the delicate environmental situation in the Uyghur region.
Uyghur Language and Its Written Heritage
On December 12th, Dr. Mağfiret K. Yunusoğlu, a preceptor in the Turkish Language and Literature Department at Istanbul Beykent University, presented about the long history and development of the Uyghur language. Dr. Yunusoğlu said that Uyghurs are attested in the early Medieval ages by Chinese, Turkic, and Islamic sources, and, later on, in Western sources as well. In addition, she explained that Uyghurs consider the Otuken Khaganate, the Idiqut/Qara Qocho Khaganate, the Gansu Khaganate, and Karakhanid Khanate, among others, as their ancestors. She also noted how many religions have influenced the records of Uyghur language such as Tengrism, Qaman/Shamanism, Manichaeism, Church of the East Christianity, Buddhism (Mahayana), and Islam. The audience learned about the development of different Uyghur alphabets over time such as Runic, Oly Uyghur, Arabic, and, later, Cyrillic. The scripts are evidenced through early monuments, and later texts/poems. Currently, the speaker argued, Uyghur language is restricted by the Chinese government. She noted that the modern language has also been shaped by many loan words from other languages.
After this event, Muhtar Janbaz also played some Uyghur music for the audience.