| dc.description.abstract | The intention of this research is to investigate and bring into academic light the methods of identity negotiation of Uyghurness through the investigation of cultural aesthetics. In the context of transnational global realities, the diasporic branches of Uyghur communities across the globe are undergoing a series of identity transformations, value shifts, and home attachments. Through the theoretical lenses of diaspora studies, gender studies, and cultural aesthetics, the stories of these women help us to understand the experience of diaspora and displacement. The specific categories used to discuss the roles of cultural aesthetic include: 1) objects, 2) music, 3) food, 4) language, and 5) behavior. These cultural aesthetic categories were explored through interviews with fourteen Uyghur diaspora women, as detailed in the methodology. After this primary data was collected, each interview was coded to located themes around identity negotiations. Based on this coding process, four primary themes were found relating to identity negotiations through cultural aesthetics: 1) negotiating home, 2) negotiating diasporic tensions, 3) negotiating gender, 4) negotiating Uyghurness. Faced with physical, and often psychological distance from the homeland, it is seen that Uyghur women utilize cultural aesthetics as a form of cultural hybridity expression in order to actively remember and retain a sense of connection with the homeland, as well as to integrate lifestyle choices into their new home. | |
