Uyghur marriages in Xinjiang in the 2010s have been characterised by various, sometimes seemingly contradictory trends of modernisation, such as monetisation, simplification, emphasis on ethnic symbolism, displays of piety and the active integration of both Turkish, Western and Chinese elements. This article views these trends as complex, inter-related reactions to the region’s socio-economic transformations and political campaigns. It analyses how these transformations and campaigns affect everyday decisions at the local level. The study of marriage provides a good insight into the effects of economic and political transformations on the ground. In such studies, we argue for a distinction between trends on the level of symbolic positioning and identity display from trends on a deeper structural level pertaining to social relations, economic integration and household strategies. In the case of Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang these two levels have shown opposite trends. On a surface level of symbolic display, the relatively open years of 2010-2014 allowed for the flourishing of trends that did not follow the Party-State line, such as Islamic piety and a strengthened Uyghur ethno-national identity. Yet, on a deeper structural level these trends signified improved integration into modern Chinese society. In contrast, the increased state violence of 2015-2020 enforced a strong symbolic alignment with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology but at the same time alienated the Uyghur population from this society effectively necessitating the development of forms of organisation that the CCP deems backwards and undesirable.

This article asks whether Uyghurs should be considered an Indigenous people. In doing so, it highlights the contested issues this question raises and seeks to initiate a more comprehensive debate on the question among Uyghurs themselves, who ultimately decide the appropriateness of such identification. The Chinese state is implementing an intense campaign against Uyghurs that bears striking resemblance to those historically waged by other settler-colonial regimes against the Indigenous peoples they displaced. Embracing indigeneity could serve as a useful strategy for at least contextualizing Uyghurs' present repression and dispossession, but Uyghurs in the diaspora are ambivalent about the concept. The article examines both why Uyghurs can be considered an Indigenous people under UN criteria and why they are reticent to embrace this status. While Uyghurs' ultimate acceptance of indigeneity as a means of self-identification would require the participation of all Uyghurs, including those living in the PRC who are currently unable to engage in such discussions, we argue that even a limited debate on the relevance of indigeneity to their identity among Uyghurs in exile would widen the possibilities of responses to the acts of repression, erasure, and dispossession carried out against their people inside China.

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