Continuity and Change of Minority Cultures in Xinjiang

本研究的最终目的是为解决民族国家与少数民族或民族内部的冲突，特别是中国新疆的少数民族问题做出贡献。虽然对新疆宗教活动的人类学研究在今天是极其困难的，但我们通过对家庭人际关系、学校和家庭教育以及经济活动的理解，集中研究了民族文化的延续和变化。本研究的主要发现如下：(1)在喀什、哈密维吾尔族、哈萨克族中存在收养孙辈之一的习俗。通过对这一习俗的分析，厘清了其亲属结构和家庭周期。(2)虽然很难直接观察维吾尔族的伊斯兰信仰习俗，但我们可以对维吾尔族的成人礼进行描述和分析，这似乎构成了维吾尔族民族文化的核心。(3)中国政府的政策是安置新疆的游牧民族，他们生活方式的改变似乎改变了包括蒙古人在内的少数民族的民族文化。我们的中国同行对我们的项目做出了很大的贡献，他们给我们寄来了关于教育政策和语言问题的论文。

The ultimate aim of this study is to contribute to the solution of the conflict between nation-states and ethnic minorities or among ethnic groups themselves, especially in the case of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, China. While anthropological studies on religious activities in Xinjiang are extremely difficult today, we concentrated in the study on continuity and change of ethnic cultures through the understanding of human relations in family, education at school and family, and economic activity.The main findings of this research are as follows :(1) Custom of adopting one of grand child as a child is found in Uygur and Kazak people in Kash and Hami. Through the analysis of this custom, the kinship structure and the family cycle were clarified.(2) Although it was difficult to observe the Islamic belief customs of the Uygur directly, we could describe and analyze the Uygur rites of passage, which seem to constitute the core of the ethnic culture of the Uygur.(3) The Chinese government's policy is to settle down the nomads in Xinjiang and the change of their life style seems to change the ethnic culture of the minority people including the Mongols.(4) Our Chinese counterparts contributed to our project greatly sending us their papers on the educational policy and the problem of language.