Negotiating Modern Sino-Muslim (Hui) Subjectivities, 1900-1960: Reforming Islam in China

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Markus Dreßler; Professor Dr. Hubert Seiwert
• Subject Area: Religious Studies and Jewish Studies ; Asian Studies
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461900530

The project focuses on the formation of a modern self-image of Chinese Muslims in the twentieth century. This self-image had to position itself between being a Muslim and a modern Chinese national. Although the intricate tension between Muslim identity and Chinese citizenship has attracted international attention only in recent years in connection with government measures toward the "sinification" of Islam, it has existed since the end of the Qing Dynasty and was intensified by the formation of the Chinese nation-state of the Republic. In the first half of the twentieth century, the question of whether and how the Islamic tradition and modernization could be reconciled was the subject of discussions that are reflected in numerous Sino-Muslim print media. The reconstruction and analysis of these discourses, some of whose themes and patterns of argumentation are still effective today, are at the center of the project.The discussions about a reform of Chinese Islam are only one aspect of a broader discourse about the emergence of a modern Sino-Muslim subjectivity. For us, subjectivity serves as a key analytical term that is used to describe subjective spaces of interpretation and action, habitus, evaluations, self-images, and feelings that are articulated and formed in discourses. Sino-Muslim subjectivities emerged in the twentieth century in a discursive framework that was shaped by local traditions, modernization, national politics, and transnational Islamic networks. The project aims to examine the dynamics arising at the nexus of these factors, and their impact on the formation of modern Muslim subjectivities. In contrast to state-centered approaches, the concept of subjectivity helps us to understand Chinese Muslims not as passively exposed to political developments, but rather to make them visible as actors. In a combination of discourse and network analysis, four thematic areas will be addressed: (1) shifts in the understanding of Islam from a foundation in Sufism and speculative philosophy to scripturalism, with a simultaneous tendency to standardize Muslim practice; 2) creation of a modern habitus and episteme through reforms in education; 3) standardization of gender-specific piety and bodily knowledge; 4) reactions to modern economic rationalities. To this day, these four areas play a constitutive role in the negotiation of Muslim subjectivities in China. Analysis of the debates on these issues during the Chinese Republic is therefore not only of historical interest but will also improve our understanding of contemporary Chinese Muslims, their attitudes towards the Chinese state, and their position within global Islamic discourses.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants