China’s High-Tech Repression Against Uyghurs: Novel Theoretical Insights

This book explores the socio-spatial impacts of China’s high-tech repression against Uyghurs both within and beyond its borders. The study is built on surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions with the members of Uyghur diaspora in Türkiye. Findings indicate that high-tech repression minimizes the social life in East Turkestan. This type of governance aims to achieve a complete erasure of privacy and individual agency by strategically leveraging technology. While Uyghurs who escaped to Türkiye appear to gain relative freedom, our findings indicate that with China’s transnational repression mostly applied through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), they live in a social space which functions as a quasi-spatial extension of East Turkestan. Lacin Idil Oztig is Professor at Yildiz Technical University, Turkey. Abdurresit Karluk is Professor at Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University, Turkey.