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Criminals, Terrorists, and Outside Agitators: Representational Tropes of the ‘Other’ in the 5 July Xinjiang, China Riots

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14650045.2012.691140

1557-3028

Brandon Rodney Barbour, Reece Jones,

Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics

Abstract This article is a critical geopolitical analysis of Chinese media representations of the 5 July 2009 riots in Xinjiang, China. Significant events often define the geopolitical climate by creating a space for the construction of boundaries between identity categories and the appropriate norms for behaviour towards the Other. The post-riot reports framed the event through the prism of the global war on terror to justify a violent response to protect Chinese citizens from the perceived threat of the Other. After connecting theories of narratives, the event, and group making, the article identifies three representational tropes – the criminal, the terrorist, and the outside agitator – in Chinese documents that create boundaries between the identity categories Uyghur and Han and define how the Other should be treated. The three representation tropes of the Other in the aftermath of the 5 July riots simultaneously situate the protestors as outside Chinese society and perpetuate the claim of the superiority of Chinese culture and civilisation. Notes 1. The category 'Uyghur' can be spelled in many different ways including 'Uygur' and 'Uighur.' This article uses 'Uyghur' because it is the most phonetically accurate spelling. 2. It can be assumed that the protestors saw the 'Han' as responsible for the deaths in Guangdong. 3. These are official numbers of deaths and injuries as reported by China Daily, most recently in March 2010. 4. Thanks to one of the anonymous reviewers for helping us to clarify this argument. 5. There is a large literature in the field of critical geopolitics that analyses the narrative representation of claims of belonging in a particular place. Examples include: M. Coleman, 'The Naming of 'Terrorists' and Evil 'Outlaws': Geopolitical Placemaking after 11 September', Geopolitics 8/3 (2003) pp. 87–104; K. Dodds, 'Political Geography III: Critical Geopolitics after 10 Years', Progress in Human Geography 25/3 (2001) pp. 469–484; G. Ó Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics: The Politics of Writing Global Space (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1996). 6. Andrew Foxall analyses the connections between events, politics, and place in his recent analysis of the 2007 Stavropol riots in Russia; A. Foxhall, 'Discourse of Demonization: Chechens, Russians, and the Stavropol Riots of 2007', Geopolitics 15 (2010) pp. 684–704. 7. G. Bovingdon, The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land (New York: Columbia University Press 2010) p. 4. 8. The purpose of this article is to identify how narrative impacts the interpretation of politics in Xinjiang via the international perspective. 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Müller, 'Reconsidering the Concept of Discourse for the Field of Critical Geopolitics: Towards Discourse as Language and Practice', Political Geography 27 (2008) p. 322, emphasis in original. 34. Ibid. p. 323. 35. A. Moore, 'The Eventfulness of Social Reproduction', Sociological Theory 29/4 (2011) pp.294–314. 36. M. Sahlins, 'The Return of the Event, Again; with Reflections on the Beginnings of the Great Fijian War of 1843 to 1855 between the Kingdoms of Bay and Rewa', in A. Biersack (ed.), Clio in Oceania: Toward a Historical Anthropology (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press 1991) pp. 37–100. 37. Moore (note 35). 38. D. Gregory and A. Pred, Violent Geographies: Fear, Terror, and Political Violence (New York: Routledge 2007). 39. R. Pain, 'Place, Social Relations and the Fear of Crime: A Review', Progress in Human Geography 24/3 (2000) pp. 365–387. 40. Sahlins (note 36); D. della Porta, 'Eventful Protest, Global Conflicts', paper presented at Conference of the Nordic Sociological Association, Aahrus, Denmark, Aug. 2008, available at . 41. Moore (note 35) p. 297. 42. C. Tilly, 'Describing, Measuring, and Explaining Struggle', Qualitative Sociology 31 (2008)pp. 1–13. 43. P. Gossman, Riots and Victims (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1999) p. 2; Foxall (note 6). 44. Of course, it can also undermine the support of the in-group if it is perceived that it went too far or was unjust. 45. C. Tilly, The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press 2003). 46. A. Bhattacharya, 'Conceptualising Uyghur Separatism in Chinese Nationalism', Strategic Analysis 27/3 (2003) pp. 357–381. 47. Bovingdon (note 7); B. Kaltman, Under the Heel of the Dragon (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press 2007); R. Kadeer, Dragon Fighter: One Woman's Epic Struggle for Peace with China (Carlsbad, CA: Kales Press 2009); M. Dillon, Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest (New York: Routledge Cruzon 2004). 48. J. J. Rudelson, Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism along China's Silk Road (New York: Columbia University Press 1997). 49. The concept of small nationalities is similar to those found in Stalin's Soviet project and is based on the idea that these subnational groups should shirk the trappings of ethnic- or tribal-based identities in order to take upon them a broader national or international identity. 50. A. Howell and C. Fan, 'Migration and Inequality in Xinjiang', Eurasian Geography and Economics 52 (2011) pp. 119–139; C. Pannell, 'China Gazes West: Xinjiang's Growing Rendezvous with Central Asia', Eurasian Geography and Economics 52 (2011) pp. 105–118. 51. Kadeer (note 47); Dillon (note 47). 52. Howell and Fan (note 50). 53. Kaltman (note 47). 54. B. Hierman, 'The Pacification of Xinjiang: Uighur Protest and the Chinese State, 1988–2002', Problems of Post-Communism 54/3 (2007) pp. 49–50. 55. See the 6 July report in Xinhua entitled 'Eyewitness Accounts of Xinjiang Riot', available at . 56. See the 7 July report in China Daily entitled 'Xinjiang to Adopt Curfew in Capital City Tonight', available at . See also the 7 July report entitled 'Fresh Chaos Erupts in Urumqi', available at ; 8 July report entitled 'Measures to Curb Violence Increased in Urumqi', available at . 57. W. Van Schendel and I. Abraham, Illicit Flows and Criminal Things: States, Borders, and the Other Side of Globalization (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2005). 58. See the 6 July report in Xinhua entitled 'Civilians and Armed Police Officer Killed in NW China Violence', available at . 59. See the 6 July report in Xinhua entitled 'Commentary: Riot a catastrophe for Xinjiang', available at . 60. See the 19 July report in Xinhua entitled 'Official Says 12 Mobsters in Riot Shot Dead, Xinjiang Confident of Revival', available at . 61. See the 9 July report in China Daily entitled 'Chinese Minister Urges Hard-Line Crackdown on Thugs in Xinjiang Riot', available at . 62. See the 7 July report in Xinhua entitled 'Chinese Police Chief Urges Tough Crackdown on Gangsters', available at . 63. S. Elden, Terror and Territory: The Spatial Extent of Sovereignty (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2009). 64. Müller (note 33). 65. S. Dalby, Environmental Security (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2002) pp. 163–164. 66. M. Neocleous, Critique of Security (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press 2008). 67. M. Clarke, 'China, Xinjiang and the Internationalization of the Uyghur Issue', Global Change, Peace & Security 22/2 (2010) pp. 213–229. 68. Dillon (note 47); A. Dwyer, The Xinjiang Conflict: Uyghur Identity, Language Policy, and Political Discourse (Washington: East-West Center Washington 2005); Kaltman (note 47). 69. See the 7 July report in Xinhua entitled 'China Urges Int'l Community for United Stance on Terrorism', available at . 70. See the 9 July report in China Daily entitled 'Expert: Xinjiang Riot an Act of Terrorism', available at . 71. See the 8 July report in China Daily entitled 'Islamic Leader Calls Riot a 'Crime'', available at . 72. See the 9 July report in Xinhua entitled 'China Urges Int'l Community for United Stance on Terrorism', available at . 73. See the 8 July report in Xinhua entitled 'Riot Shall Not Stop Xinjiang's Developing Steps', available at . 74. N. Bequelin, 'Behind the Violence in Xinjiang', International Herald Tribune, 10 July 2009, p. 6. 75. Müller (note 33). 76. C. Katz, 'Banal Terrorism', in D. Gregory and A. Pred (eds.), Violent Geographies: Fear, Terror, and Political Violence (New York: Routledge 2007) pp. 349–362. 77. E. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books 1979). 78. D. Roy, 'China and the War on Terrorism', Orbis (Summer 2002) p. 517. 79. P. Grant and R. Brown, 'From Ethnocentrism to Collective Protest: Responses to Relative Deprivation and Threats to Social Identity', Social Psychology Quarterly 58/3 (1995) pp. 195–212. 80. Xinjiang has been part of the Chinese state since the latter part of the eighteenth century, becoming an official province in 1884. Xinjiang briefly claimed independence as the East Turkestan Republic in the 1940s; however, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reaffirmed Chinese control after gaining power and creating the Peoples' Republic of China in 1949. 81. See the 6 July report in China Daily entitled 'Death Toll in Xinjiang Riot Rises to 140', available at . 82. See the 6 July report in China Daily entitled 'Commentary: Riot a Catastrophe for Xinjiang', available at . 83. See the 7 July report in China Daily entitled 'Say No to Riots', available at . 84. See the 15 July report in China Daily entitled ''Only Respect Will Restore Trust Rioters Destroyed'', available at . 85. Castells (note 22); C. Calhoun, Nationalism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1997). 86. Jones and Clarke (note 26). 87. P. Cloke and R. Johnston, Spaces of Geographical Thought (London: Sage Publications 2005) p. 3. 88. Moore (note 35) p. 298.