The UBC History Empires and (Post-)Colonialisms in the Asia-Pacific Cluster features local non-UBC scholars who have recently published monographs to have informal discussions about a chapter or two of their book. We invite all faculty and graduate students with interests in modern Asia/-Pacific (broadly defined) and the themes of empire, colonialism, or postcolonialism/decolonization to join, regardless of discipline or department.
The UBC History Empires and (Post-)Colonialisms in the Asia-Pacific Cluster is pleased to invite you to a seminar with Dr Darren Byler on his latest monograph Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City and a forthcoming book chapter. This seminar will be held on Thursday January 25, 12:00-1:30 pm in Buchanan Tower 1112. Light refreshments will be provided.
Dr Darren Byler is an Assistant Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University. Trained as a sociocultural anthropologist, Dr Byler’s teaching and research examine the dispossession of stateless populations through forms of contemporary capitalism and colonialism in China, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
“theorizes the contemporary Chinese colonization of the Uyghur Muslim minority group in the northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang. He shows that the mass detention of over one million Uyghurs in “reeducation camps” is part of processes of resource extraction in Uyghur lands that have led to what he calls terror capitalism—a configuration of ethnoracialization, surveillance, and mass detention that in this case promotes settler colonialism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the regional capital Ürümchi, Byler shows how media infrastructures, the state’s enforcement of “Chinese” cultural values, and the influx of Han Chinese settlers contribute to Uyghur dispossession and their expulsion from the city. He particularly attends to the experiences of young Uyghur men—who are the primary target of state violence—and how they develop masculinities and homosocial friendships to protect themselves against gendered, ethnoracial, and economic violence. By tracing the political and economic stakes of Uyghur colonization, Byler demonstrates that state-directed capitalist dispossession is co-constructed with a colonial relation of domination.”
Interested participants should read the Introduction, and Chapter 5 ‘Minor Politics’ of Terror Capitalism as well as a forthcoming book chapter examining digital forms of contemporary colonialism in China, India and Palestine in preparation for discussion. Reading materials will be distributed via the cluster mailing list, and are also available upon request via email to one of the cluster organizers below.
If you are interested in joining the cluster, please contact Quinton Huang (qhuang98@student.ubc.ca) to be added to the mailing list, and please direct other inquiries to Ryan Sun (rchsun29@student.ubc.ca).
