Exploring Uyghur University Students' Identities Constructed in Multilingualism in China

• In Event: Roundtable Session 57
  In Roundtable Session: Diverse Democracies, Democratic Diversities: International Studies on Identities, Multilingualism, and Language Rights and Ideologies

Abstract

This article explores how Uyghur students construct their identities through multilingual learning and use in the receiving community. Analysis of data shows that ethnic identity is foregrounded in the current research context. Essentialized understandings and negative values and behaviors are imposed upon minority students based on their ethnicity and culture. Participants symbolically struggle over the ethnicization process and contest stereotypical images by emphasizing the pure use of their mother language and resisting Putonghua use within the Uyghur community. They negotiate desirable identities as Uyghur elites capitalizing on a repertoire of available resources and attributing added symbolic value to ethnic resources. However, minority elites face potential challenges when translating symbolic resources into economic capital against the backdrop of neoliberal political economy.

Authors

• Xiaoyan Guo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Mingyue (Michelle) Gu, Chinese University of Hong Kong