Transnational Migration and Religious Practice: Uyghur Students in Malaysia

Abstract

This article examines the impact of transnational migration on the religious (Islamic) practices of Uyghur students in Malaysia and analyzes the role of social environment and social networks as the determining forces of change in those practices. This will be done with a conceptual analysis of four interlinked concepts: (1) transnational migration, (2) social environment, (3) social network (4) and religious practice. Then, these concepts will be operationlized in the context of Uyghur students in Malaysian institutions of higher education. The study takes on the characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative modes of research with a survey administered to examine the changes in religious practices and in-depth interviews conducted to analyze the role of social environment and social networks in these changes. Our research findings show that positive changes in the religious practices of Uyghurs studying in Malaysia have taken place in varying degrees after their migration from Xinjiang to Malaysia and that the social environment of Malaysia and the social networks these students establish therein played determining roles in bringing about those changes. The results also show that the influence of social environment on changes in religious practices is greater than that of social networks.

Notes

1. Anthony Giddens, Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990, p. 64.

2. Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, The Age of Migration, New York: The Guilford Publications, Inc., 1998, p. 1.

3. For more insights on Uyghurs and Xinjiang, see Michael Dillon, Xinjiang – China's Muslim far Northwest, London: Routledge Curzon, 2004, and S. Frederick Starr, Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland, Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2004.

4. The number of Uyghur students in Malaysia is roughly estimated at 200–250 as of 2010.

5. Jacqueline Hagan and Helen Rose Ebaugh, “Calling Upon the Sacred: Migrants’ Use of Religion in the Migration Process”, The International Migration Review (ProQuest Education Journals), Vol. 37, No. 4, Winter, 2003, p. 1145; Sebnem Koser Akcapar, “Conversion as a Migration Strategy in a Transit Country: Iranian Shiites Becoming Christians in Turkey”, The International Migration Review (ProQuest Education Journals), Vol. 40, No. 4, Winter, 2006, p. 817.

6. Levitt extensively reviewed the literature on religion and transnational migration and suggested directions and strategies for future research on this area. Peggy Levitt, “You Know, Abraham Was Really the First Immigrant: Religion and Transnational Migration”, The International Migration Review (Proquest Social Science Journals), Vol. 37, No. 3, Fall, 2003, pp. 847–873.

7. Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Globalization: The Key Concepts, Oxford: Berg, 2007, p. 92.

8. Thomas Faist, The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces, New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2000, pp. 17–18.

9. Ronald Skeldon, “Migrations”, in The Oxford Companion to Global Change, eds David Cuff and Andrew Goudie, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Oxford Reference Online, International Islamic University Malaysia. http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t265.e156 (March 20, 2010).

10. Levitt, “You Know, Abraham Was Really the First Immigrant”, op. cit., p. 850.

11. Jose B. Ashford, Craig Winston LeCroy and Kathy L. Lortie, Human Behavior in the Social Environment: A Multidimensional Perspective, Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning Inc., 2006, p. 10.

12. Ibid.

13. William Kornblum, Sociology in a Changing World, Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning Inc., 2008, p. 4.

14. Magaly Queralt, The Social Environment and Human Behavior: A Diversity Perspective, Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon, 1996, p. 227.

15. Ralph E. Anderson and Irl Carter, Human Behavior in the Social Environment: A Social Systems Approach, Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1990, p. 87.

16. This is because the immigration authorities in Malaysia do not register foreign migrants along ethnic lines.

17. Peter M. Nardi, Doing Survey Research: A Guide to Quantitative Methods, Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc., 2003, p. 108.

18. Positive change means the increase in the frequency of a particular practice or the coming of that practice into existence from previous non-existence.

19. In Uyghur, bamdat means Dawn Prayer. Among Uyghurs, there are certain people who pray bamdat only in the morning and forsake other four times of prayer for various personal reasons, and this is quite common among some students, working professionals and others who are contented with this frequency of praying. In this study, we consider this less frequent just than praying five times a day and more frequent than all other categories of praying listed in our questionnaire, such as those who pray Friday Prayer or Eid prayers only.

20. There are also people among Uyghurs who pray only during the month of Ramadhan and stop praying afterwards. That is because of Ramadhan's sacred position in the eyes of Muslims or due to the stronger religious spirit of people in this holy month.

21. Marija J. Norusis, SPSS 16.0 Statistical Procedures Companion, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc., 2008.

22. We used valid percentage here considering the fact that female respondents are 20 (100%), as headscarf wearing is exclusive to females.

23. We used valid percentage here as well since growing beard as a religious practice is exclusive to males.