Státní ideologie a národnostní otázka v sovětské Střední Asii na příkladu proměny etnické identity Dunganů

century ultra-radical theorists, whose aim was to change society by eliminating a number of institutions – in addition to membership of a national group, this included the elimination of private
property or the family. There were many paradoxes in putting these theories into practice because
the initial theories were fraught with internal contradictions. The example of the Central Asian
Dungans shows how the state created a new ethnic group, which it supported in every possible
way, and in the next stage, on the contrary, it was clearly persecuted. In the implementation of
state intervention, it is evident that the main declared elements of ethnic identity (in the case
of the Dungans, it is mainly the Muslim religion) are very volatile and their meaning changes considerably. While earlier Soviet ideology sought to present the Dungans as a group very different
from their ancestors in China, a Chinese ideology is now emerging that points to the similarities
between the two groups.