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WORLDMAKING FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE:
A DIALOGUE WITH CHINA
從全球視閾看“世界”的建構:對話中國

Homeland, magnet, and refuge: Mecca in the travels and imaginaries of Chinese Muslims

Janice Hyeju Jeong – 2023

Mecca is often conceptualized as a destination for the ḥajj or a source of leverage for both western and Ottoman imperial states, and in the twentieth century, for Saudi national foreign policy and Islamist movements. While building on such transnational angles, this article views the city as a convergence point for diaspora populations, an intermediary site that has received and redirected the mobilities of sojourners, refugees, and exiles from different parts of Asia throughout the manifold turnovers of the twentieth century. The article focuses on a community of first- to third-generation settlers in the Hejaz who trace their other homes to different places in China proper. Using archival documents, travelogues, and ethnographic interviews, the article argues that the routes to Mecca, coupled with imaginaries of the city as a home place for Muslims worldwide, served as a rare constant orienting force that sustained two-directional mobilities of Chinese Muslim diasporas through the wars and revolutions of modern times.

Title
Homeland, magnet, and refuge: Mecca in the travels and imaginaries of Chinese Muslims
Author
Janice Hyeju Jeong
Date
2023-05-25
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X23000148
Appeared in
Modern Asian Studies, 2023, 1-29.
Citation
Jeong, J. Homeland, magnet, and refuge: Mecca in the travels and imaginaries of Chinese Muslims. Modern Asian Studies, 2023, 1-29. doi:10.1017/S0026749X23000148