Kevin Kind
@Kevin_W_Kind
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PhD in Chinese History from Johns Hopkins University. Researching forced labor, statecraft, and vaccination in the Uyghur Region during the late Qing Empire.
Baltimore, MD
Joined July 2018
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My article on smallpox vaccination and Chinese medicine in late Qing Turpan is now available in this month's issue of The Journal of Asian Studies.
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Lived in XJ from 2016-2017 and am surprised to learn from Chinese media there were "thousands of acts of terror" happening all around me. How did I miss them! I did see the police abduct a Uyghur man off the street once, maybe that's the terrorism they're talking about...
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I was in Xinjiang during the summer of 2017 when Vera (a Hui woman) was detained. I used a VPN all the time. It took me years to see what a privileged class that put me in. Using a VPN in XJ is no laughing matter. If I had been Muslim, it would have been very dangerous. 2/2
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Just a tip for anyone who would like to use de-colonial spelling: Urumchi>Urumqi. I suppose Ürümchi is best, but even Uyhgurs will rarely type it that way in Roman lettering.
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This is a facile understanding of the origins of the Uyghurs that seeks to 1) undermine Uyghur claims to the modern territory of Xinjiang, and 2) downplay the fundamental role of Islam in Uyghur history and modern identity formations.
@lin_linvy
Interesting facts :
• Uyghurs were not originated from Xinjiang, but grasslands of Mongolia
• Uyghurs used to be Tengrism, Buddhist, etc. They only converted to Islam from 15-17th century
• Uyghurs become dominant power after migrated there & Dzungars got wiped out by Qing
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This morning I defended my dissertation and finished my doctoral degree in history at Johns Hopkins.
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Very happy to announce that my very first article, "Musulman Knowledge, Local History, and the Making of the Qing Nation-State," has just been published in the December issue of Late Imperial China. 1/2
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Happy to announce I've been awarded a five-month grant from the National Central Library's Center for Chinese Studies to conduct dissertation research in Taiwan next year. I'll meet you all in Taipei next April!
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In 2010 when I went to China for the first time on an undergrad summer abroad trip, I remember our trip leader (a Han Chinese professor at JMU) telling us that Beijing was very safe, but that we needed to avoid Uyghur neighborhoods because Uyghurs were dangerous and often stole.
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A Han practitioner of Chinese medicine and a Uyghur practitioner of Uyghur medicine share their experiences, 1980s. (新疆通志 · 卫生)
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The Turpan archives reveal that during the last decade of the Qing, dozens of Uyghurs were traveling to Mecca each year. We might need to pay more attention to Xinjiang's connection to the Muslim world via pilgrimage routes. Also what does the 漢 mean here? (前往天方國朝漢)
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Sharing my research about vaccination in late Qing East Turkestan one last time next week at Taiwan's National Central Library. The lecture will be given in English.
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Date set. Just another month of 12-hour writing days before I submit.
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Watching a replay of the Lakers Pelicans games and apparently G-Dragon is just hanging out.
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Chinese soldiers studying Uyghur in East Turkestan, 1980s. (新疆通志 · 语言文字)
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Grammarly corrects "A Uyghur" to "An Uyghur." A sign that the preferred pronunciation of many diaspora Uyghurs is going mainstream?
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I am really, really struggling to understand what basic moral principle could possibly undergird this. You're sabotaging the asylum opportunities of vulnerable Uyghurs because...they engaged in speech you find objectionable?
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If you're an early career literature graduate student interested in China, please please learn Uyghur and write about Uyghur literature. There's so much important work to be done. Hell, it would even be invaluable to produce a study on how Han writers have written about Uyghurs!
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I was very excited to find the hard copy of "Protecting the Musulman Children" in my department mailbox this morning. It's not much, but this is my small contribution to the decolonization of Uyghur history.
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Me in Chinese 101: "Ah yes, Ma Ying-jeou sells the national bandits."
“Ma Ying-jeou traitorous bandit”
Banner near Taipei Main Station
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Happy to report that our virtual panel proposal entitled "Disease, Public Health, and Empire in Asia" has been accepted by AAS 2022. Our panel features a diverse lineup of presenters sharing papers on Japanese Taiwan, British Myanmar, US-occupied Korea, and Qing Xinjiang. 1/
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Just a reminder that this photo is from official Chinese media.
@Kevin_W_Kind
You tell me if the life quality of those in Xinjiang is better or worse than its neighbouring countries in Central Asia.
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This week, students in my Uyghur history class are reading selections from
@robertsreport
's monograph, The War on the Uyghurs. I honestly can't imagine teaching this class without this book.
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The headman 鄉約 of Kumush, on the mountain road from Turpan to Karashar, 1935.
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Me after using 馬馬虎虎 in a sentence for the first time.
一位身着明代朝服的美国漢文化爱好者
One american Han culture enthusiast wearing the court official ritual attire of Ming Dynasty
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It's amazing to see British archaeologist Aurel Stein bonding with Han Chinese officials over the similarities between British rule in India and Qing rule in East Turkestan. Excerpt from "Ruins of Desert Cathay," an account of Stein's 1906-1908 expedition to the region.
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What a fantastic translated source for teaching Uyghur history. A letter from Ahmetjan Qasimi and Rahim Jan Sabri to Mr. Savel'yev, Consul General of the USSR in Urumqi. Should be excellent for discussing the Second East Turkestan Republic with students in North America.
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My Uyghur teacher got into an awesome computer science program in the UK and I'm just super happy for him (he's already in the UK).
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Afaq Khoja as Qianlong's concubine is the historical fan faction I never knew I needed.
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Looking forward to sharing my research on coercive labor policies and military conscription in late Qing (1877-1911) colonial Turpan. The forced mobilization of Uyghur laborers throughout the region, I argue, was an essential component of Qing governance in East Turkestan.
2nd International
#UyghurStudies
Conferences of the
@UyghurInstitute
will be held at the University of Geneva
@UNIGEnewson
november 9-10 with its support, in collaboration with
@EASt_ULB
,
@CERMOM_Inalco
and
@CETOBaC_lab
on the theme of
#Colonialism
&
#UyghurHistory
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In December of 1949, during the Chinese Communist Party's occupation of East Turkestan, a regiment of PLA soldiers marched across the Taklamakan Desert from Aqsu to Khotan along the Khotan River in only 18 days. I just think that's pretty wild.
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In this piece, I explore the many ways in which East Turkestan's/Xinjiang's Musulmans (Uyhgurs) made essential contributions to the writing of local history in the late Qing. Happy to provide a copy for anyone interested!
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Had a great time at the 2023 Central Eurasian Studies Society conference in Pittsburgh this week discussing the history of Uyghur forced labor in colonial East Turkestan during the late Qing period.
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The rhetoric of benevolent governance was common to all colonial empires, including the Qing administration in Xinjiang (image 1).
Yet this administration also made explicit comparisons between Qing Xinjiang and Japanese colonial Taiwan, Korea, and Hokkaido (image 2).
@joel_mb12
@Geigemachen
@Kevin_W_Kind
The fact China grants to autonomous region shows how generous China is to them. China could literally enslave them and no neighbour can do a thing about it. The US already sanctioned Xinjiang China literally has nothing to lose.
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I just found out that 東北's first 牛痘局 was established in 奉天 in 1881 by famous Hui general 左寶貴. So a Hui general was leading vaccination efforts in 東北 the same year a Han general was leading similar efforts in 新疆 and I just think the Qing was a pretty wild place.
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Well, sure, I guess Emin Khoja and some other Turkic factions did participate in the war against Dawachi, but so did Amursana and numerous Jungar groups.
Honestly it's incredible how central the Qing-Jungar wars have become in online debates about Uyghur claims to XJ/ET.
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Had a great time speaking about Uyhgur history and human rights with mandarin language learners at National Taiwan University last month. Really great to see so many young students interested in this issue.
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In sum, the origin of the name Uyghur is complex, but the ancestors of the Uyghurs adopted Islam in the 10th century and have arguably been in Xinjiang for thousands of years.
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There are 60k docs in the Turpan archive. I've found ~100 related to the vaccination bureau 牛痘局. Of those, only 1 is in Chaghatay. Of that doc, only 1/3 survives. There must be more in here somewhere. So I'm just skimming through 60k docs, desperately looking for čečäk.
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Other Turkic peoples, such as the Qarluqs, also settled in the Tarim Basin at this time, specifically in the modern regions of Kashgar and Yarkand. After arriving in Xinjiang, these 8-9th century Uyghur and Qarluq Turks intermarried with existing Indo-Iranian speaking peoples.
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People often make the point that we should critique the CCP and not Chinese people to avoid making racist generalizations, but this strategy is also used by bad actors who conceal genuine bigotry behind an anti-CCP rhetoric that is far more palatable to most Americans. 1/2
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My own paper will examine the horrible impact of smallpox upon Muslims in East Turkestan and Qing campaigns to vaccinate locals in Turpan prefecture from 1877-1911. The vaccine was highly effective, but colonialism, mutual distrust, and malpractice hindered its uptake. 2/
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A group of Musulman (Uyhgur) children studying at a school within the Yarkand yamen, 1906.
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You never hear about it, but Chris Rufo -- the critical race theory guy -- made a whole 2014 PBS documentary about Uyghurs playing baseball in Xinjiang/East Turkestan.
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This is all confusing because the modern Uyghur ethnonym takes its name from the Qocho Uyghurs who came from Mongolia and only embraced Islam in the 1400s, but these Uyghurs were only one part of the ancestral lineage of modern Uyghurs.
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The Qarakhanids were absolutely ancestors of modern Uyghurs, and so it isn't correct to say that Uyghurs only embraced Islam in the 15th century when the Qocho Uyghurs in Turpan were conquered by Khizr Khoja Khan and the Chaghatayids.
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Fantastic crowd at our panel this evening. Thanks to everyone who showed up!
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The selection of the name "Uyghur" for Turkic peoples in Xinjiang was a relatively arbitrary decision made in the 20th cent by Uyghur intellectuals like Abdusematov Nazarkhoja who (inspired by Soviet ethnic policies in Central Asia) wanted to create their own national histories.
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@pelia_werth
@FlorenceHRS
This is really interesting, because the Chinese word for dolphin, haitun 海豚, has the same basic meaning (hai 海 = ocean/sea, tun 豚 = pig/piglet). I doubt there's a connection, I guess our ancient ancestors all just thought they looked like water pigs!
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I finally found another Chaghatay document about smallpox vaccinations in the Turpan archive. This one is complete, and it even has 'Abdulqādir! That guy is literally everywhere.
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Last minute reminder for all
#AAS2022
participants: I'll be presenting my research on late Qing smallpox vaccination efforts in Xinjiang today at 9:30AM Hawaii time, 3:30PM Eastern time for my VIRTUAL panel "Disease, Public Health, and Empire in Asia." Please come by!
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Thank you
@GroseTimothy
for such a generous review of my first published article!
After a long hiatus (not enough time post-sabbatical), junior scholar spotlight is back! This thread profiles
@Kevin_W_Kind
. Kind is an ABD in the dept of history at
@johnshopkins
. Kevin specializes in public health and forced labor (among other topics) in late Qing Xinjiang.
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I don't think I ever met a Uyghur that summer, but we did of course see plenty of stereotyped representations of Uyghur culture. We ate at "Xinjiang Restaurants" run by Han and Hui, & our textbooks showed us images of Uyghurs that reduced their culture to singing and dancing.
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A few years later, Xinjiang Governor Sheng Shicai adopted Soviet Ethnic policy and applied the name Uyghur in Xinjiang. For the first time, "Uyghur" was the official name used to refer to nearly all Turkic-speaking, settled peoples of Xinjiang.
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It is true that a Turkic-speaking nomadic people knows as the Uyghurs existed in Mongolia before their khanate collapsed and they settled in the Turpan/Junghar Basin region in the 9th century, but they were only one ancestral source of modern Uyghurs.
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As a result, all of these peoples--various Turkic groups and Indo-Iranian peoples--were ancestors of modern Uyghurs. And at least one of them (the Indo-Iranian speakers) has been in Xinjiang for thousands of years.
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Much wisdom lies within.
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It occurs to me that I only began to learn the truth about Uyghurs in EastTurk when I returned home and attended graduate school. Most Han in China, however, have just been force fed the same "dangerous Uyghur" narrative nonstop since 2009 (indeed, since the 90s).
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And as always, as Americans it's important that we admit the US's own horrible treatment of mostly Muslim peoples in the past half century, otherwise our Han friends and colleagues might fairly dismiss our concerns over human rights in China as insincere.
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While researching vaccination in late Qing Xinjiang, I've recently come across this flyer for vaccination training from Shanghai (address is on the last line) in the Turpan archives. Has anyone ever heard of the "Global Society for the Veneration of Confucius" 環球尊孔會?
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None of this made a difference. Went on the market as an ABD last fall, had two articles in top journals as well as tons of conference presentations, but I didn't even get a zoom interview. It's been a tough season. I just wish someone would tell me what was wrong with my apps.
That you can’t just go through your program fulfilling the bear minimum expectations, you need to go to conferences, aggressively network, publish, and serve in HGSA government. He did note, this was especially true of students at universities like his. 6/23
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Actually, important Turkic nationalist figures in Xinjiang like Muhammad Imin Bughra (leader of the Khotan independence faction during the first East Turkestan Republic) initially opposed the name Uyghur and believed "Turk" to be the appropriate name for Xinjiang Turkic Muslims.
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I think that disabusing our friends and colleagues of this "dangerous Uyghur" narrative is the productive place to begin discussions of human rights in ET/Uyghur Homeland/XJ. They may not believe that great crimes are happening, but we can humanize Uyghurs in their eyes.
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I will never understand people whose (appropriate) hatred of American imperialism makes them apologists for Chinese imperialism.
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People really need to read
@robertsreport
's book.
“The Uyghur groups in question were designated terrorists by the US State Department.”
What do we call people who treat the fcking US State Department as some kind of ultimate authority?
(why do so many of my moots follow this guy?)
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@AndersonEliseM
Was talking to someone about this the other day and they countered that the USA builds culture related theme parks, and I was like this isn't a theme park this is literally their homes. Busch Gardens didn't build little Germany by buying up Hamburg and making locals dance.
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I just learned that Gavin Menzies, author of classics such as "1421: The Year China Discovered the World" and "1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance" passed away in 2020. Shine on you crazy diamond.
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But because of the influence of people like Abdusematov Nazarkhoja (who was a Taranchi living in Semiriche in Kazakhstan), by the 1930s "Uyghur" became the common name used by the Soviet Union to refer to Xinjiang's Turkic Muslims.
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Chinese social media overflows with this kind of casual racism, and the fetishization of Uyghur women by Han men is everywhere.
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I believed my trip leader in 2010 b/c I was ignorant & deeply influenced by the war on terror, and the same is true for many Han Chinese. The modern police state in XJ is built upon these fears and misunderstandings, & deconstructing these prejudices are where we need to start.
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The Qarluqs, who would form the Qarakhanid Khanate in Kashgharia by the 9th century, embraced Islam in the 10th century under Statuq Bughra Khan.
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1/2 Met a self-professed liberal, history fan, China watcher today who told me with a straight face that "China has never been a victim of colonialism" and cited Peter Purdue or something to prove it. Purdue and other 新清史 historians of course never said such a thing...
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Part of the problem is that this plan will require a serious expansion of English language course offerings in universities. The bilingual education push is supposed to solve this, but universities won't get enough foreign faculty unless they pay more.
President Tsai said yesterday that the current plan to bring 10,000 foreign students to Taiwan is not even close to enough in terms of numbers. She wants Taiwan to train high level professionals who will become permanent residents and citizens.
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Just finished teaching the first session of my Uyghur History course at Johns Hopkins. Happy to report that I have a solid cohort of undergrads that are very eager to learn about East Turkestan and its people.
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The world if there was a digitized Pleco version of Hucker's "A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China."
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