| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, May 6, 2010 | 5:00PM - 7:00PM | Seminar Room 208N, Munk Centre For International Studies 1 Devonshire Place |
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), the northwestern region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is historically, culturally, religiously and ethnically the eastern part of Central Asia. XUAR is also the region in which—before the “peaceful liberation” of Xinjiang—the Uyghur Islamic society believed in the differences in gender roles and duties between men and women. The man’s responsibility was to earn money, while the woman’s responsibility was to manage the household. It is well recognized that the PRC, after having annexed Xinjiang as an integral and inalienable part of the country, committed itself to promote and extend to this peripheral area the concept of equality between men and women, based on the total equality of roles and responsibilities. Uyghur women are faced with a dilemma: preserving local traditions directly implicated to the Islamic culture or accepting the social modernization promoted by China to “liberate women”. I explore how/if the current status of women is directly influenced by local values, Islamic culture and/or by Han reforms. Using the ethnographic and linguistic approach, I aim to identify the theories and practices regarding women and gender, accompanied by an overview on the material conditions of women throughout the twentieth century.
Elena Caprioni obtained her Honours MA in Foreign Literatures and Languages (Chinese) at the University of Rome (Italy) in 2003. She received her PhD in History and International Relations from the University of Cagliari (Italy) in the fall of 2008. Her research analyzes Uyghur-Han relations in Xinjiang. She continued her studies on Uyghur language and society at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA), Xinjiang Normal University (Urumqi, PRC) and Central University for Nationalities (Beijing, PRC). Currently, she is pursuing post-doctoral studies on questions of gender in Uyghur society at the Institute of Asian Research of the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, CAN). Her research interests cover a range of topics in nationalism, identity, and gender in Xinjiang.
If you are attending a Munk School event and require accommodation(s), please email the event contact listed above to make appropriate arrangements.
Disclaimer: Please note that events posted on this website are considered to be public events – unless otherwise stated – and you are choosing to enter a space where your image and/or voice may be captured as part of event proceedings that may be made public as part of a broadcast, webcast, or publication (online and in print). We make every effort to ensure your personal information is kept and used in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). If you have any questions please get in touch with our office at munkschool@utoronto.ca or 416-946-8900.