A Colonial Muslim History of China and the World

media release: 206 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive. Refreshments will be served beginning at 3:45 pm.

The Tarikh-i Ḥamidi of Mullah Musa Sayrami (1836–1917) is celebrated as a monument of Uyghur literature and the preeminent Muslim history of nineteenth-century Xinjiang (East Turkestan). Yet it is more than a chronicle — it is a history of the world as seen from the heart of Eurasia and an argument about the nature of politics and faith. Sayrami’s work is also multilayered, polyvocal text, and one that bears recontextualization and rereading through different analytical approaches. This talk explores the Tarikh-i Ḥamidi in terms of its interaction with other Muslim and Chinese sources and as a colonial, transcultural text that advances insightful observations of Chinese power and new ideas about its workings.

About the Speaker: Eric Schluessel is associate professor of history and international affairs at the George Washington University and director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. His first monograph, Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia, won the 2021 Fairbank Prize in East Asian History. Eric has also authored a textbook for reading the Chaghatay language and translated the Tarikh-i Ḥamidi, the quintessential Uyghur chronicle of the nineteenth century. His research has been funded by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and at the Institute for Advanced Study. Eric continues to research the social and economic history of China and Central Asia.