Erasing Cultures, Resisting Erasure: A Comparative Analysis of Cultural Genocide Patterns of Persecution and Resistance in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and 20th Century Genocides

This thesis explores the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) methods of cultural genocide and corresponding Uyghur resistance in contemporary Xinjiang. Since before the CCP's rise to power in 1949, Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic minority and the largest non-Han group in Xinjiang, have faced marginalization. The analysis is two-fold. First, I focus on the CCP’s destruction of three primary aspects of Uyghur culture: language, religion, and tangible heritage sites. Here, I compare the CCP’s methods to those occurring in three historical genocides: Native Americans in the United States, the Armenian Genocide, and the Holocaust. Through these comparisons, I highlight parallels of cultural destruction. Second, I compare Uyghur resistance with resistance movements during these three historical genocides. These parallels show universal techniques of survival and defiance under oppressive regimes and place the Uyghur experience within a larger historical and political framework. The comparison of resistances serves as additional evidence for the claim that the CCP’s policies towards Uyghur language, religion, and tangible heritage sites are systematically eliminating Uyghur culture and identity in the region.