Separated in a surveillance state: A case study of the lived experiences of Uyghur families in Xinjiang’s "re-education" camps
Date
2025
Authors
Bihis, Ashley
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Publisher
University Of Victoria
Abstract
Within the past decade, over one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities have been arbitrarily detained as part of China's campaign of political 're-education' and mass internment in Xinjiang. Using a case-study approach and interviews, this honours thesis explores the lived experiences of the victims and their family members affected by Xinjiang’s ‘re-education’ camps. The research questions guiding this project are: (1) How do Uyghurs in Xinjiang describe their family relations while living in or alongside ‘re-education’ camps? (2) How does Chinese state surveillance shape them through the mechanisms of biopower and necropolitics? The findings indicate that the respondents face not only human rights abuses within the camps, but also other forms of repression that go beyond assumptions of violence. Drawing on victims’ experiences, this research theoretically expands on biopower, state of exception, necropolitics, panoptic surveillance, and securitization. Overall, this paper argues that family separation and the concept of ‘re-education’ with surveillance can be a preliminary step toward sovereign violence.
Description
Keywords
surveillance, Uyghur, human rights, re-education, inter-ethnic conflict, culture