/from  Konuralp Ercilasun / CACI-JHU-SAIS LAUNCHES THE XINJIANG PROJECT

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute of The Johns Hopkins University—Nitze School of Advanced International Studies announces the launch of The Xinjiang Project, the most comprehensive, authoritative writing project on the Xinjiang region ever undertaken. The Xinjiang Project is fully supported by a three-year grant from the Luce Foundation. The 18 authors involved in the Xinjiang Project are all leading scholars on Xinjiang or in relevant fields. They include co-directors S. Frederick Starr and Justin Rudelson, as well as Linda Benson, Gardner Bovingdon, Jay Dautcher, Graham Fuller, Dru Gladney, William Jankowiak, Jonathan Lipman, Jim Millward, Robert Oxnam, Peter Perdue, Sean Roberts, Gilbert Rozman, Ingvar Svanberg, Stanley Toops, Nabijan Tursun, and Calla Wiemer. While no scholars from the PRC are officially involved in the project, the views and scholarly input from PRC scholars will be sought during the writing of the volume.

The resulting Xinjiang Project volume will not be a popularization of research already conducted. Instead the scholars will present a multi-disciplinary, non-political perspective and produce a work that is truly collaborative and thoroughly integrated. The volume will be written with a three-tier audience in mind: specialists, policy-makers, and informed non-specialists. In so doing, the Xinjiang Project will address the interests of a larger and less specialized audience than is usual for such volumes. Topics will include such topics as ethnicity and nationalism, social history, strategies of political control, economic development, ecology, demography, education, trans-border relations, public health, Islam, adaptation and resistance, contested histories, and geopolitical scenarios. The Xinjiang Project will take three years to complete. The Xinjiang Project will share its findings with representatives from think-tanks and universities in the PRC, will offer lectures on Xinjiang at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, and convene a major conference for government officials, policy makers and scholars in Washington, DC. For further information please contact:  Dr. Justin Rudelson, Deputy Director
jrudelson@jhu.edu

XINJIANG PROJECT AUTHORS' BULLETIN BOARD
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