“Islamic populations on the move: the case of the Uighurs in Kazakhstan and the Rohingya in India”

Abstract (English)

Asia is the birthplace of Islam and home to the largest Muslim population in the world (Sjoquist, 2005).
In this context, the Uyghurs constitute a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, living in the northwestern regions of the People's Republic of China (especially the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. In the case of Kazakhstan, the Uyghurs are primarily located in Almaty Province.
For their part, the Rohingya are an Islamic ethnic group in Myanmar who, after suffering persecution and even ethnic cleansing by the current authorities in that country, have largely begun an exodus abroad. In the case of the Rohingya in India (a Hindu-majority country), just under 20,000 of them reside there (UNHCR, 2019), although the local government estimates these figures to almost double.
Both groups share population mobility and circumstances of conflict with other populations with whom they coexist, which are reflected in the political sphere, making it necessary to understand these social dynamics, the narratives, and imaginaries at play, and to monitor them.
In light of the above, this paper examines the situation of the Uyghurs in Kazakhstan and the Rohingya in India, examining through the critical lens of anthropology their respective dynamics of relationships with other population groups in their places of residence and their projections in the political sphere between 2021 and 2023.