Power, Language, and Elimination: Settler Colonialism and the Reshaping of Uyghur Identity in China

This article examines the Communist Party of China's settler colonial strategies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, focusing on ideological and institutional mechanisms driving Uyghur language elimination. Drawing on settler colonial scholarship, ethnographic interviews with Uyghurs in Türkiye and critical engagement with Chinese state narratives, the article underscores how language policy functions as a dominant tool. Consequently, the imposition of Putonghua is not a neutral educational reform but a calculated measure that reshapes Uyghur identity and restricts epistemic, educational, and public spaces according to Han-centred norms. Testimonies reveal the lived experiences of discrimination, cultural loss, and identity erosion. To counter this elimination, the article documents diaspora-led efforts to resist cultural erasure, emphasising language as a crucial site of political contestation and minority resilience.