Uyghur Studies in Central Asia

The Uyghurs, a Turkic people comprising a major part of the populationof the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China, also havesizable communities in the former Soviet Central Asian Republics, espe-cially in Kazakhstan, where they numbered 220,000 in 1999 (altogetherthe Uyghur population in the newly independent states numbers morethan 300,000). The Central Asian Uyghur community played a signifi-cant role in the Uyghur nation-building process as well as in Soviet-Chinese relations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. TheSoviet authorities used the Uyghurs as a tool in their policy towardXinjiang (Eastern Turkistan) and for that purpose provided special sup-port for the development of Uyghur culture in Central Asia. A significantpart of that policy was the development of Uyghur studies in CentralAsia, particularly in Kazakhstan, which became a cultural center for theSoviet Uyghurs. Uyghur studies covers mostly the research done in thesphere of language, literature, history, and culture (art, music, etc). Thisarticle will examine the history of Uyghur studies in Soviet Central Asiaand outline its trends.

The article can be downloaded at: Uyghur Studies in Central Asia