From Repatriation to Exodus: Cross-Border Migrations in the Sino-Soviet frontier in the 1950-1960s
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- Main Building, SOAS
- Room
- Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT)
About this event
The lecture will discuss one of the largest cross-border migrations of the 20th century in the Sino-Soviet frontier, which resulted in the mass relocation of different ethnic groups (Russians, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Tatars, Dungans etc.) from the Xinjiang-Uyghur autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China to Soviet Kazakhstan.
Discussion of the causes of the migration, push and pull factors, its main stages and consequences will be put into the context of the geopolitical changes that occurred in Eurasia after World War II and especially with the Communist takeover in China and deterioration of Soviet-China relations. Starting as a well organized repatriation of Soviet citizens from Xinjiang and Manchuria in 1954, the migration gradually became uncontrolled because of internal and external factors and growing animosity in Soviet-China relations.
This reached its apogee in an exodus of May 1962, when around 100,000 people from the Ili and Tarbaghatai districts of Xinjiang crossed the state border. The examination of the mass migration will be based on the oral histories of the migrants of 1950-1960s residing in Kazakhstan.
Image by Sasha Kaunas via Unsplash
About the speaker
Ablet K. Kamalov, Professor of History at Turan University, Almaty. Earned his PhD degree from the Institute of Oriental manuscripts in St. Petersburg (1990) and Habilitation Degree of Doctor of Science from the Institute of Oriental studies (2008) in Almaty, Kazakhstan. His research interests cover History, Historiography, and Culture of the Turkic peoples of Chinese Central Asia, primarily the Uyghurs, and Diaspora studies. His latest publications include monographs “Uyghurs of Kazakhstan” (2016), “Dungans of Kazakhstan” (2016), ‘Social institute of ottuz-oghul: past and perspectives” (2017).
He was a co-investigator of the project “Towards an alternative model of heritage as sustainable development: Uyghur meshrep in Kazakhstan” (2018-2022) held by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of London University jointly with Turan University. Ablet K. Kamalov was a President of European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS, 2020-2022). Since 2022 he is a President of Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS).
Chair
- Rachel Harris (Professor of Ethnomusicology, SOAS School of Arts)
Registration
This event is open to the public and free to attend, however registration is required.
