Uyghur Studies Initiative Director Eric Schluessel with the Directors of the Film “Nikah”, Dr. Mukaddas Mijit and Bastien Ehzouan

Overview

The Uyghur Studies Initiative is America’s only endowed program for teaching, learning, and research about the Uyghur people, homeland, and diaspora. The USI began as part of IERES’s Central Asia Program in 2012. In 2023, an anonymous gift of nearly $1 million established it as part of the Sigur Center. Today, the USI funds instruction in Uyghur language at two levels. It offers fellowship funding to graduate students undertaking research on Uyghur issues in the arts, humanities, and interpretive social sciences. The USI is also proud to host events that place Uyghur voices into the center of discussions and connect diaspora scholars with the university.