Crafts, entrepreneurship and gendered economic relations in southern Xinjiang in the era of 'socialist commodity economy'
article 1998 • Bellér-Hann, Ildikó

Uyghur • Asia > Central Asia
This is a study of the gendered relationships and transactions in the making and selling of the traditional embroidered Uyghur hat in the oasis town of Qäşqär (Kashgar). Because of traditional Uyghur modesty codes, women's work is primarily restricte...

The written and the spoken
Book 2000 • Bellér-Hann, Ildikó

Uyghur • Asia > Central Asia
This is a study of the power of the written word in non-privileged, mostly illiterate segments of local Uyghur society. The region has had a long history of writing, which has carried much prestige and been used as an instrument of political control....

Rivalry and solidarity among Uyghur healers in Kazakhstan
article 2001 • Bellér-Hann, Ildikó

Uyghur • Asia > Central Asia
Uyghur healers rely on spirit possession, acting as mediums between human and spirit worlds. They employ both ancestral spirits and those of the Muslim saints, reflecting a mix of traditional Inner Asian shamanistic practices and Islamic beliefs. Hea...

The peasant condition in Xinjiang
article 1997 • Bellér-Hann, Ildikó

Uyghur • Asia > Central Asia
This is a study of the economic changes in post-liberation southern Xinjiang. The initial period of collectivization—a system with no property rights, corvée labor, and limited control over the harvest—put a feudal-like grip on Uyghur peasants. In th...

Hair-raising stories
article 2004 • Bellér-Hann, Ildikó

Uyghur • Asia > Central Asia
This article is a study of “scald-head” Taz, a trickster figure in Uyghur oral tradition. Taz is an anti-hero who violates social rules and taboos, and undermines social hierarchies. There is lengthy discussion of the rich meanings of hair and baldne...