Examining Narratives of Place: Representations of Xinjiang in Tourism and Geography Education

This thesis examines how Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in northwest China, is represented in tourism and geographic education literature. The research demonstrates the limited and distorted place narratives of Xinjiang that are promoted by the government-backed tourist enterprise in China for consumption by English language speakers; as well as, the inadequate and uncritical representations of the region currently available to students in the United States. Qualitative content analysis methodology is employed to investigate the narrative representations of Xinjiang contained within tourist brochures, geography textbooks, and regionally appropriate curricular guides. The thesis includes a body of geographic lesson plans pertaining to Xinjiang I created that are informed by the research results. The purpose of this thesis is to move toward a more nuanced understanding of Xinjiang as a dynamic region of global significance, challenge prevailing stereotypes of the region, and strengthen geography literacy, particularly among school aged students

Remote Sensing of Large-Scale Areas at the Urban Sites of the Mongolian Orkhon Valley Using Low-Cost Drones. Preliminary Results and Some Thoughts on the Urban Layout of the Uyghur Capital Qara Balǧasun

Im Jahr 2018 führte die Mongolisch-Deutsche Orchon-Expedition (Mongolische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mongolische Nationaluniversität, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut) in Zusammenarbeit mit Archaeocopter (Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden, Freie Universität Berlin) großflächige Geländeaufnahmen an der Uighurischen Hauptstadt Karabalgasun und der altmongolischen Hauptstadt Karakorum durch. Insbesondere die enorme Größe der Stadtwüstung Karabalgasun ist eine Herausforderung für die archäologische Erforschung. Die nicht bebaute und vegetationsarme mongolische Steppe bietet hervorragende Voraussetzungen für bildgestützte Fernerkundungsmethoden. Mit handelsüblichen, relativ kostengünstigen UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) wurden beide Stadtruinen systematisch mit tausenden überlappenden Luftbildern erfasst. Durch photogrammetrische Methoden wurden aus den Bildern Orthofotos und digitale Geländemodelle erstellt. Diese ermöglichen es, selbst kleinste Reste von Bebauung zu erkennen. Auf diese Weise wurde erstmals ein vollständiger Stadtplan von Karabalgasun erstellt. Der Plan erbringt neue Erkenntnisse zu der Uighurischen Stadt. Die von der Stadt eingenommene Fläche beträgt demnach etwa 44 km². Darüber hinaus erlaubt der neue Stadtplan ein besseres Verständnis der Raumordnungsprinzipien, die der Stadt zugrunde liegen. Entgegen früherer Theorien, die primär iranisch-sogdische oder chinesische Stadtplanungsprinzipien am Werk sahen, folgt die Anlage von Qara Balǧasun genuin nomadischen Vorstellungen. Sie ist somit ein verfestigtes Lager und damit Beispiel einer eigenständigen Urbanität, die aus den Traditionen der Steppe erwächst.In 2018 the Mongolian-German Orchon-Expedition (Mongolian Academy of Sciences, National University of Mongolia, German Archaeological Institute) together with Archaeocopter (Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden, Freie Universität Berlin) conducted large-scale surveys at the sites of the Uyghur capital Qara Balǧasun and the ancient Mongol capital of Qara Qorum. Especially the enormous size of the site of Qara Balǧasun poses a challenge for archaeological research. The unbuilt and sparsely vegetated Mongolian steppe provides ideal preconditions for image-based remote sensing methods. With off-the-shelf, relatively low-cost UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) both sites have been surveyed with thousands of overlapping aerial images. Otho-images and digital elevation models have been generated by photogrammetric methods. The results enable the distinguishing of even faintest remains of ancient constructions. For the first time a complete map of the remains of Qara Balǧasun has been achieved. This map delivers new insights concerning the Uyghur city. The area occupied by the city amounts to 44 km². Furthermore the new map allows a better understanding of the principles of spatial order on which the city is based. While former theories assumed Iranian-Sogdian or Chinese models of city planning, it seems now, that the layout of Qara Balǧasun follows more native nomadic principles. The city is the encampment of a nomad ruler made permanent by the erection of buildings and thus an instance of a genuine steppe-nomadic kind of urbanity

Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics (ConCALL)

The Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics (ConCALL) was founded in 2014 at Indiana University by Dr. Öner Özçelik, the residing director of the Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR). As the nation’s sole U.S. Department of Education funded Language Resource Center focusing on the languages of the Central Asian Region, CeLCAR’s main mission is to strengthen and improve the nation’s capacity for teaching and learning Central Asian languages through teacher training, research, materials development projects, and dissemination. As part of this mission, CeLCAR has an ultimate goal to unify and fortify the Central Asian language learning community by facilitating networking between linguists and language educators, encouraging research projects that will inform language instruction, and provide opportunities for professionals in the field to both showcase their work and receive feedback from their peers. Thus ConCALL was established to be the first international academic conference to bring together linguists and language educators in the languages of the Central Asian region, including both the Altaic and Eastern Indo-European languages spoken in the region, to focus on research into how these specific languages are represented formally, as well as acquired by second/foreign language learners, and also to present research driven teaching methods. Languages served by ConCALL include, but are not limited to: Azerbaijani, Dari, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Lokaabharan, Mari, Mongolian, Pamiri, Pashto, Persian, Russian, Shughnani, Tajiki, Tibetan, Tofalar, Tungusic, Turkish, Tuvan, Uyghur, Uzbek, Wakhi and more!The Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics held at Indiana University on 16-17 May 1014 was made possible through the generosity of our sponsors: Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR), Ostrom Grant Programs, IU's College of Arts and Humanities Center (CAHI), Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center (IAUNRC), IU's School of Global and International Studies (SGIS), IU's College of Arts and Sciences, Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies (SRIFIAS), IU's Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS), and IU's Department of Linguistics

Income Differences between Minorities and Han-Chinese: Discrimination or structural problems?

When looking at the Chinese society, it becomes visible that it is made up of over 56 ethnicities, of which 55 form minority groups. Data shows that members of these ethnic minorities have a lower income than individuals belonging to the majority and this gap doesn’t seem to be closing. The aim of this thesis is to investigate what causes the income inequalities and if it is a problem of discrimination or structural problems like geographical endowments. By analyzing data from the CHIP 2007, the question of this cause should be answered. In conducting regression analyses the impact of different factors on income can be reviewed and considered. The results show that geographical conditions and matters of decentralization play a much bigger role than the ethnicity itself and the minority status. A case study looking at a development project initiated by the World Bank shows that by building infrastructure and access to tourism, remote villages in South China have a chance to preserve their natural and cultural heritage while profiting from an increase in tourism. It provides a practical example for the implications from the previous empirical analysis. Finally, the paper gives some important implications about income inequalities in China, namely that they are caused not by discrimination itself according to the findings but due to spatial characteristics

The Chinese print media’s reporting of domestic ‘terrorist’ attacks: ideographs, social values and counter-terrorism frames

Following the attacks of September 11 2001 in the United States, China proclaimed its own ‘war on terror’ with the Uyghur of Xinjiang as a frontline. At the same time as ongoing US anti-terrorism efforts around the world, the Chinese government deployed repressive campaigns in one of its own troubled regions, campaigns which intensified with the riots in Urumqi in 2009. A series of high-casualty attacks since 2014 demonstrates further exacerbation of the conflict and entailed a strengthening of the counter-terrorism apparatus in the following years. Yet several scholars have questioned the nature of the purported terrorist threat to China, suggesting that the new narrative around the Uyghur issue was an attempt by the regime to preserve its authority and escape international condemnation for the severity of its actions. However, although these scholars highlight the party-state’s use of the terrorism label for the Xinjiang conflict, there is still a comprehensive analysis missing on how the party-state portrays the terrorist threat to its people. Responding to this research problem, this dissertation presents the first systematic analysis Chinese media coverage of domestic ‘terrorist’ attacks. Drawing upon eight cases from 2009 to 2015, and twelve Chinese newspapers, this analysis focuses on the determinants of terrorism coverage and framing patterns through a combination of qualitative content analysis and quantitative text analysis. I argue that the Chinese party-state engages through various methods of news censorship and coordination to construct a terrorist threat that is surprisingly abstract- invoking extremism as the threat, but without referring much to particular agents, organisation or religions. Also, I argue that the party-state uses the abstract terrorism portrayal to campaign against all ‘three evil forces’ (terrorism, extremism, separatism), while also promoting social values that align with the regime’s resilience. The dissertation reveals the various frames that make up the party-state’s terrorist threat construction. It demonstrates that the party-state uses the Xinjiang conflict to rally the Chinese people under the flag of the Chinese Communist Party while also creating the image of an archetypical enemy that can be applied to a large range of party-state perceived threats. These features of the Chinese news coverage of ‘terrorist’ attacks shed light on the mediated reality of the conflict and provide an alternative perspective to US-centred media scholarship on terrorism

Multiethnic Societies of Central Asia and Siberia Represented in Indigenous Oral and Written Literature

Central Asia and Siberia are characterized by multiethnic societies formed by a patchwork of often small ethnic groups. At the same time large parts of them have been dominated by state languages, especially Russian and Chinese. On a local level the languages of the autochthonous people often play a role parallel to the central national language. The contributions of this conference proceeding follow up on topics such as: What was or is collected and how can it be used under changed conditions in the research landscape, how does it help local ethnic communities to understand and preserve their own culture and language? Do the spatially dispersed but often networked collections support research on the ground? What contribution do these collections make to the local languages and cultures against the backdrop of dwindling attention to endangered groups? These and other questions are discussed against the background of the important role libraries and private collections play for multiethnic societies in often remote regions that are difficult to reach

The Racial State and Race Formation: A Comparative Case Study of the Use of Racial Narratives and Government Coercion for Racial Nation-State Building in Chile, China, and Myanmar

This is a study about what David Theo Goldberg (2002) describes as “the racial state”: a modern nation-state where rule and constructions of race are deeply intertwined (2002: 7). Racial difference, he posits, is one of the easiest and most potent ways a governing body in modern times can establish power, social order, and dominance (130). Racial projects are a robust form of establishing state formation and legitimacy as they create two intertwined identities: a national, racial state identity and personal identities who depend on the very racial narratives governing bodies create. Yet, such narratives do not gain support without arduous application. This study is also about coercion, symbolic and literal, and how governing bodies deploy violence as to enforce racial narratives and further establish legitimate governance. As Goldberg (2002) states, “Power is to the state and the state to power as blood is to the human body” (9). Guided by Goldberg’s (2002) theory, I set out to explore how the racial nation-state materializes across three distinct countries: China, Chile, and Myanmar. While highly distinct in many aspects, governing bodies in all are persecuting an indigenous, religious, or ethnic minority group and then are implementing racial narratives and government coercion to justify such suppression. Executing a secondary source, comparative analysis, I have focused on four themes I’ve made chapters—racial narratives, symbolic and real peripheries, rhetoric of terrorism, and methods of oppression—to argue that governing bodies in each of these three countries are coercively enforcing racial narratives as to achieve government legitimacy. I argue that type of government affects how racial narratives and government coercion manifest as well as threat of minority group separatism, but that ultimately, racial narratives are how governing bodies retain authority across all three countries. I conclude by predicting that a globally racist society is emerging in which methods of oppression and racial narratives are converging globally

SPECIAL REPORT: The world according to China: Capturing and analysing the global media influence strategies of a superpower

This project captured and analysed Chinese strategies seeking to influence global media in its coverage of China. While there is ample literature defining some of these strategies, there is a lack of empirical data tracking the strategies in practice. The project addressed this by surveying officials from journalism unions in 87 countries on their perceptions of Chinese influence on the media in their country. The surveys were complemented by focus groups with senior journalists and editors in six countries. The findings illustrated how China’s global media outreach policies have grown increasingly sophisticated and how the country utilises a multi-pronged approach to influence global media. Dukalskis’ (2017) authoritarian public sphere (APS) framework was used to conceptualise the studies and to analyse the findings. It is argued that China is attempting to offer its APS as an alternative to the traditional Habermasian (1989) public sphere