Lunch Talk: International Responses to the Uyghur Issue

NIAS is excited to invite to this on-site lecture by Julie Yu-Wen Chen about the international repsonses to the Uyghur issue in China.

Abstract:

Since various Uyghur diasporic organizations have been given legitimacy by liberal democracies and international governmental organizations, they can no longer be considered merely splintered members of a far-flung diaspora locked in a one-sided struggle with Beijing. Uyghur activists can and do use their hard-won legitimacy as legal migrants and asylum seekers to influence politics in their host countries. In this presentation, Julie Yu-Wen Chen examines Uyghur’s international activism, revisits the legitimacy issue of the Uyghur cause for self-determination and survey uneven international responses to it, from states to individuals.  

Biography:

Julie Yu-Wen Chen is a Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Chen serves as one of the editors of the Journal of Chinese Political Science (Springer, SSCI). Formerly, Chen was chair of the Nordic Association of China Studies (NACS) and editor-in-chief of Asian Ethnicity (Taylor & Francis). Chen’s research and teaching are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, spanning political sciences, ethnic studies, sociology, and Chinese studies. Her research interests include China’s soft power, Belt and Road Initiatives, ethnic conflict in Xinjiang and its international implications, theories of collective action, globalization, and glocalization. Chen is the author of The Uyghur Lobby: Global Networks, Coalitions and Strategies of the World Uyghur Congress (Routledge, 2014).