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China’s Securitization Practices toward its Muslim Minority Groups. The Disappearance of the “Model Muslim Minority”

par Gönül, Hacer Zekiye
Président du jury Olsson, Christian
Promoteur Kellner, Thierry
Co-Promoteur Frangville, Vanessa
Publication Non publié, 2023-06-29

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :

This thesis explores why the Chinese government allows Hui Muslims comparatively broad discretion in their religious practice, despite the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) distrust of religion. In order to reveal the preferential treatment secured by Hui Muslims, particularly in comparison with their Uyghur compatriots, I illustrate the CCP’s ability to use and control Hui Islam for its own benefit, namely to strengthen Muslim support for the CCP. The primary reason for the Chinese government to allow Hui Muslims greater freedom of practice is the successful and ongoing Sinicization of Hui Muslims and the corresponding otherization of Uyghur culture and religious practice as dangerous and foreign. What role does the Islamic Association of China (IAC) play in shaping statist interpretations of religion? I answer this question by looking at the development of a religious bureaucracy in China. My main focus is on the IAC as a significant actor. Located between the Chinese state and Muslim communities, the IAC plays a vital role in securitizing “non-compliant” Islamic practices. My study explores the CCP’s definition of “Chinese Muslims” and “lawful Islam” as well as the centrality of the IAC for these processes of meaning-making, otherization and securitization. I trace the emergence of Hui Islam as the compliant and thus less securitized model for Chinese Islam with Chinese characteristics and the association of Uyghur religious practice with the “Three Evil Forces” (Separatism, Terrorism and Extremism).