Abstract – Assessment of both water quality and quantity pose a great challenge to those studying the effects of anthropogenic activities on bodies of water. Eutrophication created by the increased concentration of nutrients including nitrates and phosphates has been known to contribute to the development of both toxic algal blooms, which serve as limiting factors in the ecosystems of the water, rendering it useless for consumption.1,2 Another common development is the buildup of suspended sediments (SS/TSS), contributing to the anoxic conditions characterizing environmental hypoxia.3 Because current methods for the assessment of the presence of such issues rely upon tedious and costly methods, a timely and cost-efficient method is desirable for application to the practice.4  This research relies upon analysis of the inherent optical properties of chlorophyll and sedimentation present within the bodies of water in question, achieved through analysis of the reflectance values of the red and blue bands from Landsat satellite images of five bodies of water. 5 The analysis, performed using Geographic Information System ArcMap, allows for determination of the values that attest to changes in surface area, turbidity, and eutrophication. The trends in the data hold consistency with the natural occurrences surrounding the bodies of water associated with the three parameters outlined above, supporting usage of remote sensing for qualitative and quantitative analysis of water.

Introduction

Lakes are popular hosts of environmental problems as a result of anthropogenic activities. For the majority of these lakes, causes of these problems often involve sediment loading or nutrient enrichment, also known as eutrophication.1 Eutrophication is also the cause of algal bloom in water. Both eutrophication and algal bloom are a natural phenomenon, but human activities may accelerate them, which can cause harm in terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, eutrophication and harmful algal blooms are the leading source of impairment of water quality in many lakes around the world.2 Specifically, human-derived sources due to industrialization, urbanization, or agricultural wastes due to the amount of excess nutrient that these sources then load onto their local freshwater bodies. Anthropogenic activities change the amount of Nitrogen and Phosphate - both of which are nutrients essential to algal growth - present in water. For instance, sewage, agricultural, and household discharges often contain large quantities of P minerals.3 Harmful algal blooms may cause anoxic conditions, which is the depletion of oxygen in water. Such conditions are especially dominated by cyanobacteria, which is a blue alga that produces cyanotoxins and makes lake water toxic, causing wildlife deaths and seafood poisoning in humans.4 

Traditional methods to measure water quality parameters like algal blooms involves field surveying techniques while measuring suspended solids involves the filtration technique. Unlike the other methods, studies show that satellite remote sensing is more cost-effective, economic, and ideal for acquiring spatial data from lakes with large surface areas7 like the ones that will be investigated. For the purpose of this study, there are two

other water quality parameters measured, besides the quantity factor with surface area. One is the chlorophyll, which will indicate the severity of algal bloom, and the other is total suspended solids, as a measure of water turbidity. The Inherent Optical Property (IOP) - which refers to absorption and scattering properties of underwater contents - of chlorophyll and suspended solids were used to determine algal and sediment presence. And because of the optical properties of chlorophyll and suspended solids in water, one can use commercially available optical instruments to measure their respective concentrations.7 This can be applied to satellite data because of the way in which satellite sensors collects the intensity of light reflected. And since satellites measure reflectance values in different intervals of the electromagnetic spectrum, the focus will be placed on reflectance values on certain intervals - also known as band values - in this paper. In summary, a lower reflectance value of blue band correlates to a higher concentration of sediments. As a lower reflectance value of the red band would suggest a higher presence of chlorophyll.

In this study, three lakes across the world are analyzed, and each is chosen for the significance of their impact on local livelihood. The three bodies of water are the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, the Wular Lake in Kashmir, and Lake Taihu, or Lake Tai in China.

Methods

United States Geological Survey satellite images were to collect the data related to the measures of surface area, turbidity, and eutrophication. The satellite images were acquired from the United States Geological Survey’s Earth Explorer Database. The GIS software was utilized in order to determine the surface area and mean red and blue band values for each of the bodies of water.6 The satellite images that were selected were without any cloud coverage over the bodies of water, as the functions that were utilized in determining the presence of chlorophyll and sedimentation relied upon the properties of reflectance of light.6 The mean red band values of each image would analyze the levels of chlorophyll present in the lake, while the mean blue band values would represent the presence of Total Suspended Solids (TSS). The selected images were then downloaded with the “ LandsatLook Images with Geographic Reference” option in order to be able to have the images automatically oriented geographically upon downloading, taking advantage of the automatic georeferencing done by ArcMap. Following the creation of a mosaic image, a new shapefile was created and categorized as a polygon, to permit usage of the editing tool that allows users to outline figures. The shapefile was edited to create features known as “profiles.” The “Freeform” tool was utilized in creating the profiles over the bodies of water, as it is designed to function as a tracer. This ability permitted the creation of accurate profiles that covered the bodies of water. The profiles were created with the intention to analyze to mean values for the red and blue bands of the lakes. In order to receive the intended values from only the areas that were covered by a profile, the “Clip” tool found under the Raster Library was utilized. This tool allows users to make a copy of the areas that are underneath the created profiles. Clipping the shapefile to the mosaiced image creates the copies of the profiles, that appear as a new layer on ArcMap. ArcMap automatically computes the data values that are associated with the new layer and attaches them to the newly created layer. To calculate the surface area, the attribute tables were opened. The area is not automatically calculated, but can be computed using the software. An attribute was added to attribute file: “Surface Area, adding the values of the surface areas of the shapefiles created. For each clipped layer, the properties feature was utilized to access the statistical analysis section, locating the values listed as “mean.” The values were listed as Band 1, Band 2 , and Band 3.  Each pixel that forms an image derives its color from the values of intensity of three different bands: Red, Green, and Blue. Band 1 and Band 3 were the bands that were observed as they represent the values of the bands that attest to the degrees of turbidity and eutrophication: the conditions in question.

Data and Results

The data visualizations shown below display the conglomeration of the data that were collected using the methods outlined above. The graphs present the calculated mean red and blue band values as represented by the bars of the respective colors. The solid black line represents the surface area of the lake for that specific year.
In regards to the most drastic change in surface area, the Aral Sea suffered from the
greatest decrease in surface area during the two decade period in which the available data samples were analyzed. Below are two images that were used in the study: the first on the left is from the sample used to analyze the desired values for the year 1999. The photo on the right is the image that was analyzed to retrieve the data for the year 2017.

                                           Figure 1.  Data for the Lake Taihu

The figure below shows the Landsat­7 - image of the Aral Sea Aral Sea in the first year of the study: 1999. The figure below shows the Landsat­7 - image of the Aral Sea Aral Sea in the final year of the study: 2017

                                                                                                   Figure 2. Aral Sea in 1999 and 2017

The two figures show the Aral Sea in 1999 and 2017 respectively.

                            Figure 3. Graph of Aral Sea with all three parameters

In Figure 3, the blue represents blue band values, red represents red band values, and black line shows the trend for surface area 

                               Figure 4. Images of Lake Taihu in 2001

The figure above shows an image of Lake Taihu in 2001, maintaining non uniformity about it in its color, with the northern region of the lake suffering from greater nutrient concentration, creating a faint green tint.

                                 Figure 5. Images of Lake Taihu in 2016

The figure above shows an image of Lake Taihu in 2016, having maintained a more consistent and clearer body of water, attesting to the decrease in pollution.

The figures above show an images of Lake Taihu in 2001 and 2016, maintaining non uniformity about it in its color, with the northern region of the lake suffering from greater nutrient concentration, creating a faint green tint, and then having maintained a more consistent and clear body of wate in 2016, attesting to the decrease in pollution.

                       Figure 6. Graph of Wular Lake with all three parameters

Blue representing blue band values, red representing red band values, and black line shows the trend for surface area.)

Discussion and Conclusion

From observing the images of the Aral Sea, there is an apparent decrease in surface area from the almost two decade period that was examined. This is greatly reflected in the rapid decrease in value of the surface area as represented on the graph. In addition, there is a trend present in the values of the red and blue bands where the values are present: the values of the red bands are significantly higher than the values for the blue band means, though this disparity does seem to decrease in the more recent years. The decrease in the red band value from the year 1999 to the 2017 reflects the presence of organisms that absorb more red light, representative of the occurrence of algal blooms that are caused by the phenomenon of eutrophication. The minor increase in blue bands may allow us to determine a decrease in the presence of total suspended solids present within the lake.

For the Wular Lake, the values for the blue bands are consistently significantly higher than the values for the red bands, slowly decreasing in recent years until meeting values similar to those of the red bands. The Wular Lake shows to have maintained a consistency with the values of the red bands as they do not display a significant gap, showing a stability of the values representing the presence of chlorophyll in the lake. There was a significant decrease in the values for the blue bands, representing an overall increase in the quantity of total suspended solids in the lake. The surface area for the lake remained rather stagnant with the exception of 2014, during which floodwaters increased the surface area of the lake. It otherwise did not exhibit any significant change during the years that were utilized in the data extracted.8

 With both of its red and blue band values observed to have an increasing trend, Lake Taihu is the only lake in which its case with pollution is gradually getting better over the course of the 15-year period. The increase in band values is more notable as the mean of the reflectance value in the blue wavelength is nearly three times at 2016 than it was 2001. This suggests a significant decrease in the presence of TSS. The increase in both band values also suggests a decrease in chlorophyll presence in the lake. The surface area of Lake Taihu has remained relatively stagnant over the 15-year period.

It is relevant here to mention that not all of these lakes were expected to have large fluctuations in all three quality as well as quantity parameters to begin with. For instance, during the lake selections phase, it is expected for lakes like the Aral Sea to show a more obvious trend in decreasing surface area for the past few years, because it is more notoriously known globally for its problem with the shrinking size. Other lakes, like Lake Tai and Wular Lake, are not expected to have as much of a decrease in surface area, though it is expected to have more problems in terms of its water quality, as they are often subject to case studies involving the extents of their harmful algal bloom or excessive sedimentation.

Looking at the red band values of these graphs, there seems to be an observable trend in all the lakes except for the Aral Sea. Which makes sense because the Aral Sea is the only lake out of all the five that is technically located in the middle of a desert in Central Asia, and it seems to be the most remote from live plants and vegetation. The rest of these lakes are most located in scenic areas where there are mountains full of trees some of them are located in a more subtropical climate. In the Wular Lake, for example, there is the most apparent trend of a decrease in red band means, which is correlated to an increase in chlorophyll concentration. This is an indicator that the algal growth in Wular Lake is certainly still an ongoing problem. Lake Tai, however, seems to be in the minority as there is an upward trend in the red band value, indicating a decrease in algal growth. This is evidently consistent with its local government’s conservation efforts to control local industrial pollutions. The blue band values seem to be fluctuating from year to year. The only cases with an obvious trend may have been present is in the case of Wular Lake. There is a relatively strong trend of decreasing blue band values, which indicates an increase in suspended sediments. This fits context as reportedly, the lake still suffers from pollutions from fertilizers and animal manure from plantations nearby. Another trend in blue band is observed in Lake Tai, as there is a slight increase in blue band values, meaning there has been a decrease amount of sediments.

References

[1] Smith, V., Tilman, G., & Nekola, J. (1999). Eutrophication:Impacts of excess nutrient inputs on freshwater, marine,andterrestrial ecosystems. ​Environmental Pollution,100(​ 1-3), 179-196. doi:10.1016/s0269-7491(99)00091-3 12     

[2] Chislock, M.F.; Doster, E.; Zitomer, R.A.; Wilson, A.E. (2013)."Eutrophication: Causes, Consequences, and Controls in Aquatic Ecosystems". Nature Education Knowledge. 4 (4): 10. Retrieved 10 March 2018.                                                            

[3] Anderson, D. M., Glibert, P. M., & Burkholder, J. M. (2002). “Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: Nutrient sources, composition, and consequences.” Estuaries,25(4), 704-726. doi:10.1007/bf02804901 

[4] Bush et al. (2017). "Oxic-anoxic regime shifts mediated by feedbacks between biogeochemical processes and microbial community dynamics". nature. Bibcode:2017NatCo...8..789B. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00912-x. 

[5] Michaud, Joy P. (1994). "Measuring Total Suspended Solids and Turbidity in lakes and streams." Archived 2010-07-30 at the Wayback Machine. A Citizen's Guide to Understanding and Monitoring Lakes and Streams. State of Washington, Department of Ecology.                                        

[6] Alesheikh, A. A., et al. “Coastline Change Detection Using Remote Sensing”. International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 4, no. 1, Jan. 2007, pp. 61–66., doi:10.1007/bf03325962.                                                      

[7]Babin, M., Cullen, J., Roesler, C., Donaghay, P., Doucette, G., Kahru, M., . . . Sosik, H. (2005). New Approaches and Technologies for Observing Harmful Algal Blooms. Oceanography, 18(2), 210-227. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2005.55 [8] Stony, J., & Scaramuzza, P. (n.d.). Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector-Off Gap-Filled Product Development.

Abstract: The political sensitivity of the region in turn propagates the popularity of political interpretations for literature from Xinjiang. When reading Uyghur poetry from the likes of Tahir Hamut, Perhat Tursun, or Ghojimuhemmed Muhemmed, it is difficult to divorce ones thinking from the political reality that defines everything in Xinjiang. Literature gives a lens to culture and reality, and concerning Uyghur Misty/ Gungga/ Menglong poets there are interesting viewpoints on the political value and implications of their works. This paper will seek to outline how the political intentions of these gungga poets are interpreted. An ethno-religious reading of these authors will be called into question while an argument for a political community consciousness of issues will be put forth. This will be mostly done through an analysis of various gungga works in this paper.

Keywords: Uyghur, poetry, Gungga movement, Elegy, and linguistics

I. Introduction

The political instability of the Uyghur situation within the People’s Republic of China is something that is front page news across the globe. The resource rich and vast territory of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is one that is crucial not only for the territorial integrity of the Chinese nation but a keystone for Chinese aspirations in the international field–especially with the New Silk Road initiative put forth by Xi Jinping in recent years. The wealth of this region is unevenly shared with dissatisfaction high among the Uyghurs of the region. The nationwide issues that spring forth from economic growth, modernization, and the control of the Communist Party are intensified in Xinjiang because of the volatile situation present. This results in the unwavering iron grip that the Chinese Communist Party exerts on the native populations of the province [1]. In the crusade to rid the region of “dangerous” elements, the Chinese Communist Party has recently sought to rid the province of “dangerous” people–the destruction of a people seems to be simply a means to an end for the pacification of Xinjiang under the Chinese Communist Party.

II. Thoughts on Poetic Interpretations

This paper will try to evaluate different interpretations of Uyghur poems, and Uyghur modern poetry in general, and the political lenses used to do so. Therefore, it is important to define “poetic interpretation” and “political significance.”

When it comes to poetic interpretation there is conflict on what is considered a “valid” assessment of aesthetics and message. While American literary critic E.D. Hirsch sees “the author's intention….is the ultimate determiner of meaning,” [2] there are viewpoints that are more pluralistic and relativistic. 20th Century German philosopher Martin Heidegger saw “the direct subjective experience of a work of art as essential to an individual's aesthetic interpretation” [2]. There is only one correct interpretation of a work and it coincides with the creator’s vision to the idea that everyone’s approach to art is different and each of those approaches are valid. These different schools of thought are important as the political nature of these misty Uyghur poems are very much up to the reader’s discretion.

This focus on the fluid nature of poetic interpretation is really emphasized here because of the fact that depending on where one lies on the spectrum, one’s take away from Modernist Uyghur poetry through a political lens really shifts. Also, this is mentioned as a disclaimer because who is right and who is wrong in their readings of poetry are really more or less up to interpretation.

Similar vagueness arises when the idea of what is “political” is considered. There is a language of vague analogies concerning the definition of political as the term seems to be all encompassing yet ever so specific and defined. Aristotle advanced the thesis that human beings are by nature political animals [3]. Going off this tangent, this paper therefore considers “political significance” to include the way people interact in the social realm. Aristotle’s viewpoint shows the tendency to fold the social into the political. Using this in modern contexts, the social spaces and community consciousness that literature creates will be considered political.

III. Usage of Sufi Allusions for the Creation of a New Identity

When it comes to the crossroads of what is “political” and the Uyghur gungga poets, Darren Byler of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington posits a fascinating view of a kind of pro-active modernist self-determination pursued by these avant-garde authors. Drawing from the Sufi-branch Islamic allusions and styles used by the authors Tahir Hamut and Perhat Tursun in some of their poems, Byler brings up how these poets are trying to redefine and give cultural capital to a novel modern image of Uyghur Identity [4].

Sufiism is the mystical cousin of more orthodox forms of Islam and was a school of religious thought that produced some of the most well-known minds of the Islamic World. Traditional Uyghur literature is highly intertwined with both Sufiism and the Persian language Sufiism was often communicated through [4]. The mystical nature of Sufiism allowed for more space for syncretic practices from other religions and therefore is also highly connected to folk culture in the Uyghur context, where Sufi saints form a core pillar of Uyghur folklore. Because Sufiism was centered on the individual and god, the Sufi literati across the Persianate world were relaxed concerning religious dogma and prescription–especially concerning alcohol.

Because of the moderate nature of the Sufi ideology and the high prestige it carries in Uyghur society, Byler argues that Perhat Tursun and Tahir Hamut reference the Sufi cultural legacy of Uyghur literature through appeals to Sufi figures and symbols as well as the Persian ghazal poetic form [4]. This is done in order to incorporate and render palatable poetry on the modern urban and rural Uyghur experience within the social context of Uyghur society [4].

All these modernist Sufi elements are very much present in the poem Elegy by Perhat Tursun. The repetition of the phrase “Do you know I am with you” as well as the referring back to the author in the last line are stylistic choices influenced from Persian ghazal meter [4], while the reference to the Chagatai poet Elishir Nawa’i is  direct reference to an important Sufi figure and his viewpoint.

“Your soul is the entire world.’ Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Among the corpses that froze in exodus over the icy

mountain pass, can you recognize me?

The brothers we asked to shelter us took our clothes.

Go by there even now and you will find our naked corpses.

When they force me to accept the massacre as love

Do you know that I am with you.

In those times when drinking wine was a graver sin than                                   

drinking blood, do you know the taste of the flour

ground in the blood-turned mill?

The wine that Elishir Nawa’i deliriously dreamed up was                             

modeled on the flavor of my blood.

In that infinitely mysterious drunkenness’s deepest levels

Do you know that I am with you” [10].

The Poem opens with a reference to Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, openly evoking the Buddhist past of the Uyghurs before their conversion, while also highlighting the openness of the Sufi mindset. The intoxication of life is highlighted, and framed as something natural and native through the usage classical references [4]. Byler sees these messages as prescriptive pushes to promote a cosmopolitan Uyghur identity that marries the past and promotes spirituality but not necessarily religious dogma.

Modern Uyghur society had been under the influence of the Chinese Socialist Realist school of nationality for the past half century, and this had a significant impact on the literature and the ethnic mythology of the Uyghur people. The economic liberalization of the Deng years, along with the global rise of political Islam away from the Arab core of the Islamic world, has also offered another highly influential vision of Uyghur identity. This instability on what is a “Uyghur”, whether centered on ethno-nationalism within the Chinese family or reformist religiosity, is something that Byler claims the gungga poets are trying to solve by promoting a middle way with traditional a traditional Uyghur Sufi world view, between state mandated atheistic nationalism and foreign religious orthodoxy [4].

Byler puts forth the political nature of Uyghur poetry as something coherent, rooted, and yet not conservative. There is a strong argument that the gungga poets appeal to the Sufi past in order to justify the creation of a space where the Uyghurs are autonomous in their self-definition.

IV. Diversity of Uyghur Poetry and Politics

While all these poets are united in certain factors–they are more comfortable in Uyghur than Mandarin in nearly all fields, they draw heavily from the western tradition, they came of age during the years when Deng Xiaoping’s reforms were gaining momentum–all these factors are a result of the fact that they all hail from more or less the same generation. This fact brings up a reality that beyond the style of Gungga poetry, the inclusion of very contemporary subject matter, it is very hard to assign a political archetype that unites all the modernist Uyghur poets [6]. The unity of goals and motivations are assumed by Byler in his modernist Sufi readings of gungga poetry, which calls into question the wider applicability or even accuracy of his conclusions. The aligning of a literary style with politics or a worldview, might be a stretch.

In response to ideas published by Byler, Uyghur language specialist and translator Joshua Freeman of Harvard University is not convinced of the explicit political implications of Sufi allegory in gungga rhetoric–or any universal political message as a matter of fact.

Sufi imagery comes up occasionally in gungga poetry (e.g., in Perhat Tursun's Elegy), but it's not really a central theme in the genre. Some gungga poets do claim the Sufi poet Mashrab as a spiritual or poetic ancestor in a similar manner to the way Nawa’i was appealed to in Elegy, but by the same token these gungga poets would also claim poets “like Baudelaire or Pound as a poetic ancestor” [6]. There is a strong case for Freeman’s claim that “…Sufism is honestly a bit overemphasized in a lot of what has been written on Uyghur modernist poetry” [6]. It is arguable that when it comes to form, avant gardeness, and perspective, these modernist poets are as much students of Herman Hesse–who is quoted in the opening line of Elegy– or Franz Kafka as they are of Mashrab or Nawa’i–who is beckoned for in the closing line of Elegy.

While Byler reasons that there is a specific political motivation for the Sufi influences that are present in gungga poetry–the rendering of modern concepts into a form more familiar to the audience– Freeman again does not see the poets as having that focused of an agenda. Uyghur or not, it is hard to think of a catch-all answer to the question of why modernist poets sometimes use traditional forms:

“After all, "traditional" poetry is almost always among the influences of any modernist poet, and there's nothing preventing a modernist from drawing on those influences. In the case of Uyghur gungga poets in the 1980s and '90s, there was also sometimes an attempt to prove one's Uyghur bona fides by writing in traditional forms” [6].

Freeman pushes forth the idea that a Uyghur poet drawing on his roots, is not necessarily inherently a politically significant in the way Byler want it to be.

It should be of note that Byler draws his conclusions not out of thin air but from ground work in Xinjiang as an anthropologist. The political leanings that Byler highlights are very much present in Uyghur society. Freeman is not exactly negating the political message but the idea that it is gungga poetry that carries it. This becomes clearer when Freeman’s view point that there really is not any particular world view or political motivation that onw could generalize to gungga poets. A literary style does not overlap neatly with politics and worldviews:

“Much the same way that Auden was a liberal humanist, Eliot a conservative, and Pound a fascist sympathizer—yet all three were prominent anglophone modernists in the early to mid-twentieth century. Some (I'd say most) gungga poets are liberals, as that is defined in a Uyghur context, while others are religious conservatives. I'm not persuaded that gungga poets as a group are trying to put forward a new identity for Uyghurs, though of course individual poets and even groups of poets have their own ideas on identity, society, etc” [6].

While the modern Sufi vision of misty/gungga Uyghur poetry is possibly valid and fascinating, the defining of the political significance of these authors based on a supposed proactive prescriptivist world view is unsatisfactory.

V. Reality and Merit of Political Voice

The shaky territory on which the Sufi self-determinist lens of Uyghur poetry stands is obvious and this hesitancy extends to the idea of a unified drive for the creation of a new Uyghur identity. This, however, does not mean that Elegy by Tahir Hamut, or any of the other Uyghur gungga works, are not political. Going back to the socially intertwined idea of what constitutes the “political” derived from Aristotle mentioned earlier in this paper, the political lens of Uyghur poetry is still relevant and applicable–it just might not be Sufi modernist.

The political does not require poetry to be a tool for social activism–as it would be according to Byler’s Sufi analysis– but includes the creation of dialogue and a community consciousness of issues relevant to the community in question. This lens of a community consciousness of issues was used by reaserchers Rebecca A. Clotheya, Emmanuel F. Kokub, Erfan Erkina, and Husenjan Emata in an expansive survey of Uyghur language blog posts and literature published online. While this lens of analysis of Uyghur language works has not been used beyond the online world, the value of using this lens in the analysis and evaluation of political voice in Uyghur gungga literature is elucidating.

In Tahir Hamut’s Return to Kashgar the modernization and social change of his hometown is portrayed through a distinctly Uyghur point of view–a point of view tied to his memories of and membership in the community of old Kashgar. Because many of the misty poems communicate the daily lives and struggles of ordinary Uyghurs in the current landscape of Xinjiang, these poems are creating a social space of political consciousness and unity that is defined and adapted to the modern world. Even when poems are not fully explicitly set in the modern world, as in Ghojimuhemmed Muhemmed’s Chronicle of an Excecution, they provide an active critique of the society:

“The past that advances shouting Charge!

The odes sung by souls entering and leaving

to doors opening and doors closing

Distant graves approaching

Girls never seen twice and beds seen many times

Water in the blood, bread in the flesh, vows in the bone

A sword striking a head, a noose lain round a neck, bullets into the chest

And what comes before his eyes in the final breath

is a chain called homeland, an enemy called his people

And the beautiful life for which he longed    

is the flower garden he has laid waste”

The distinctly Uyghur point of view is not social activism or identity construction, but the communication of the reality of living in Uyghur society. The distance between the religious conservatism and mysticism of Uyghur society and the authors own life in this case is a vocalization of how the clash of old and new effects the normal Uyghur.

The gunnga modernist Uyghur poetry style expresses the idea of the authors and of society in general, it seems that the goal is not social activism or the overthrow of authority but the creation of a consciousness within the community of issues relevant to them [1]. Many of the gunnga poems address issues such as the Uyghur society and modernization, gentrification, urban isolation, and social shift. While these poems might not be trying to a new political Uyghur identity, they are inherently political because they are calling attention to relevant issues.

VI. Conclusion

In order for Uyghur poetry to have a political voice it is not necessary for it to have a coherent message or a political goal. The shifting of the analysis of political voice, in terms of poetry, from one focused on the supposed aimed goals to one that is focused on the sake of the voicing of experience is one that can be applied to the mists of gunnga poetry.

Misty poetry by its very nature is vague but not necessarily removed from the political. Considering the lengths the Chinese Communist Party has gone to rid the region of problematic individuals, the voicing of societal problems in poetry is a distinctly political action in Xinjiang among the Uyghurs. Misty poetry is a style that does not line up with world views and politics, and the diversity of the group makes it hard to point towards a coherent political narrative. Yet, the lack of political coherence of the style does not mean the works lack merit in political interpretation.  Gunnga poetry should not be viewed as a coherent movement of social activism, but as helping in the creation of community consciousness for relevant issues–an activity that is has become ever more dangerous over time.

References

[1] Clothey, Rebecca A., Emmanuel F. Koku, Erfan Erkin, and Husenjan Emat. "A Voice for the Voiceless: Online Social Activism in Uyghur Language Blogs and State Control of the Internet in China." Information, Communication & Society19, no. 6 (2015): 858-74. doi:10.1080/1369118x.2015.1061577.

[2] Thomson, Iain. "Heidegger's Aesthetics." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. February 04, 2010. Accessed December 9, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger-aesthetics/#SymSub.

[3] Etzioni, Amitai. "What Is Political?" George Washington University.

[4] Byler, Darren. "Claiming the Mystical Self in New Modernist Uyghur Poetry." Contemporary Islam12, no. 2 (2018): 173-92. doi:10.1007/s11562-018-0413-2.

[5] Freeman, Joshua L. "Two Poems by Perhat Tursun: "Morning Feeling," "Elegy"." Academia.edu - Share Research. Accessed December 22, 2018. https://www.academia.edu/6984747/Two_Poems_by_Perhat_Tursun_Morning_Feeling_Elegy_

[6] "Freeman01@g.harvard.edu." E-mail message to author.

[7] Muhemmed, Ghojimuhemmed. "Magazine." Words Without Borders. Accessed December 22, 2018. https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2016-new-uyghur-poetry-chronicle-of-execution-ghojimuhemmed-muhemmed.

Abstract: Gender, labor and race historians have made a strong case for space as a social construct. A Foucauldian framework of analysis of space has allowed historians to reveal histories of the subaltern, which are otherwise often ignored. Interactions in space are social relations, as individuals relate to the space around them in response to other individuals and societal norms. Even so, the materiality of space cannot be understated, as the built space impacts how those interactions are produced and unfold. The consideration of the materiality of space as an additional layer to social space, make spatial history a more effective and illuminating methodological approach.   

Keywords: space theory, societal construct, social space, gender, labor, and history

Introduction

Although historian Leif Jerram has criticized historians for overusing imagined space, stating that space is the material physicality of location, gender, labor, and race, historians have used space as a social construct to successfully unearth otherwise hidden transcripts of power relations and resistance [1]. Rather than looking at ‘imagined space’ as in competition with ‘built space,’ a layered definition of space must be adopted. As Sewell has argued, space is imagined, experienced, and built [2]. Discursive imagined space can be defined as the ways in which individuals understand their environment, while experienced space is the ‘material interactions between people and their environment’ [2]. Finally, the built environment can be defined as the physical structures that occupy spaces [2]. These overlapping layers must be examined through a social constructivist Foucauldian lens, as space is fundamentally interlinked with the production and reproduction of ‘economic, political, and cultural power,’ and the reaction of those in power and of the subaltern to that power [3].  This relationship of space with power means that ‘spatial relations are social relations’ [4]. The extent to which spatial theory has effectively been applied by labour, gender, and race relations historians must be examined to establish its use in the discipline of history.

Capitalism and Class Division

When space is considered through the socially constructivist lens, individuals who would otherwise be seen as passive become agents, since the ways in which they relate to space impacts that space. This is especially evident when labors’ relations to space are considered. Lefebvre argued that space is produced socially by the hegemonic class, asserting their dominance in society [4]. Thus capital becomes the ‘primary maker of the geography of capitalism.’ [5] Lefebvre’s theory was influenced by his Marxist approach, which became popular in economic geography in the 1970s in questioning the relationship between capital and space [5]. Lefebvre’s focus on economic geography does not give enough agency to subaltern people existing and resisting within such elite-dominated spaces. In contrast, Herod has argued that in response to capitalist space, workers construct landscapes in a way which increases their social power and diminishes the power of capital [5]. Judith Butler similarly argued that public protests not only take place in the built space, but they also “reconfigure the materiality of space.” By occupying spaces controlled by capital and those in power, the subaltern ‘performatively lay claim’ to the space and assert their right to it.

The reclaiming and coopting of space by workers in times of strikes has been explored by Percy. By comparing strikes in early twentieth century Chicago and London, Percy found that workers asserted their existence and attracted attention to their cause by claiming public space [3]. Their alternative use of public space strengthened collective action as it impacted how they related to one another, strengthening working-class consciousness and solidarity. People understand space in relation to other people, even as the physicality of the space also impacts their relationship to space. For example, there were some crucial differences in how the strikes played out in London and Chicago due to the different physical configurations of these urban spaces. In Chicago, the grid street layout allowed strikes to spread faster and made maintaining picket lines easier. In contrast, the web of streets in London meant that workers used parades and mass meetings for more effective resistance [3]. In this case study, space was produced socially as strikers constructed an alternative public sphere in which they asserted their right to be in middle-class neighborhoods and to dominate the streets. Percy demonstrates how the materiality of space impacted that production. This demonstrates the effectiveness of thinking about space predominantly as socially constructed, but also considering built space.

Gender and Conceptualization of Women

Historians of gender have also made effective arguments for space as a social construct. Traditionally, public space has been constructed as belonging to men, with women being confined to the private sphere. Women breaking this barrier by entering public spaces was often thus seen as a trespass, both by those who sought to police them, and by women themselves. For example, in Chicago in the late nineteenth century, public drinking was seen as a masculine act, with only ‘disreputable’ women drinking in public [6]. Only the rise of commercial gender segregated spaces, gave upper and middle-class women the ability the ability to drink and push the boundaries of the private sphere. Such spaces still belonged predominantly to white, middle-class women, as African American women were often barred from entering them, as were working-class women [6]. This demonstrates the extent to which capital does play in a role in space formation, as Lefebvre has argued. The rise of consumerism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to the creation of spaces which expanded the private sphere into the public one for women, demonstrate the power capital plays in determining spatial relations, even though such relations remain socially constructed.

Due to the conceptualization of women as belonging to the private sphere, women striking in public spaces has traditionally been treated both more severely and seriously. During the Polish Solidarity resistance strikes in Lodz in 1980, women marched with strollers and babies. These women not only claimed the physical public space, but also impacted how that space was imagined (both by them and others) by bringing objects of motherhood and the traditional private sphere into the public. As a result, the march in which they participated in was one of the most successful actions of the Solidarity Movement. The success of this march was predicated on a societal understanding of the streets as a public space in which mothers did not belong. By examining women in the Solidarity movement and their interactions with space, Kenney unearthed how women used popular understanding of public space to their advantage, reconfiguring the streets into sites of protest which shocked authorities and led to positive action.

Although Rosa Parks has been the traditional image of the American Civil Rights Movement, Kelley used space as a social construct in order to reveal an otherwise hidden transcript of resistance [7]. Kelley’s examination of space has broadened the understanding of historians about the Civil Rights Movement, leading Hall to conclude that there was a ‘Long Civil Rights Movement’ which spanned decades rather than beginning and ending in the 1960s. Kelley used police reports to analyze how public transportation in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1940s became a theatre of daily resistance [7]. Driven by white drivers and policed by them and by white passengers, the bus was a white space in which race relations were rigidly maintained. Drivers controlled who entered the supposedly public space, often passing by black passengers at stops [7]. Further, the space was hierarchical, as black passengers were forced to sit at the back of the bus or to stand. Kelley found that in response, black passengers would often speak loudly and cause a ruckus, aiming to make the white passengers, who were trapped in that space for the duration of the ride, uncomfortable [7]. Police records showed that black passengers could be arrested for any action that asserted their right to being in the space – from making noise, to sitting in the white-only seating area, to arguing with fellow white passengers or the bus driver [7]. Such resistance aligns with Butler’s theories about ‘performatively laying claim’ to space in the struggle for freedom [9]. Kelley’s analysis of the bus as a socially constructed space which reflected and reproduced the race relations present in American society deepens our understanding of those race relations, reconfiguring the struggle for Civil Rights from landmark moments like the March on Washington to the everyday spaces of black working-class resistance, like the bus.

Further, the eventual seeming acceptance of segregation in the United States by white middle-class people is also deepened by a spatial analysis predicated on social construction. Kruse found that white middle-class Americans in Atlanta in 1950s and 1960s responded to the desegregation of ‘public’ spaces by deciding they no longer wanted to participate in such spaces [8]. As a result, cities like Atlanta seemingly accepted desegregation – as a result of the reconfiguration of how public spaces were imagined. White middle-class Americans retreated to the private sphere and moved out of urban centers to the suburbs, essentially re-segregating cities. There was also an economic dimension to this conception of space, as white Americans refused to pay their tax dollars to spaces which African Americans could also use [8]. In contrast, the white working-class virulently remained opposed to desegregation because they used public spaces and did not have the economic power to leave them [8]. Desegregation thus exacerbated the divide between middle and working-class whites. Kruse’s analysis upends the narrative of the successful Civil Rights Movement leading to the sudden end of segregation and change in opinions of white Americans, demonstrating that just as the African American struggle for freedom was a constant for decades, so was the white resistance to that struggle.

Conclusion

Ultimately, gender, labor and race historians have made a strong case for space as a social construct. A Foucauldian framework of analysis of space has allowed historians to reveal histories of the subaltern, which are otherwise often ignored. Interactions in space are social relations, as individuals relate to the space around them in response to other individuals and societal norms. Even so, the materiality of space cannot be understated, as the built space impacts how those interactions are produced and unfold. The consideration of the materiality of space as an additional layer to social space, make spatial history a more effective and illuminating methodological approach. 

References

1. Jerram, Leif. “Space: A Useless Historical Category for Historical Analysis.” History and Theory 52 (2013) p. 400-419.
2.  Sewell in R. Percy, ‘Picket Lines and Parades: Labour and Urban Space in Early Twentieth-Century London and Chicago’, Urban History, 41/4 (2013), p. 457.
3. Percy, Ruth. “Picket Lines and Parades: Labour and Urban Space in Early Twentieth-Century London and Chicago.” Urban History 41 (2014): 456-477.
4.  Lefebvre, Henri. “Space: Social Product and Use Value.” In State, Space, World: Selected Essays, edited by N. Brenner and S. Elden, translated by J. W. Freiberg, 185-195. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.
5. Herod, Andrew. “From a Geography of Labor to a Labor Geography: Labor’s Spatial Fix and the Geography of Capitalism.” Antipode 29 (1997): 1-31.
6. Remus, Emily A. Remus, Tippling Ladies and the Making of Consumer Culture: Gender and Public Space in Fin-de-Siècle Chicago (2014).
7. R. Kelley, “‘We are not what we seem’: Rethinking black working-class opposition in the Jim Crow South” (1993) p. 99.
8. Kruse, Kevin M. “The Politics of Race and Public Space: Desegregation, Privatization, and the Tax Revolt in America.” Journal of Urban History 31 (2005): 610-633.
9. Butler, J. 'Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street'