American Roots to focus on 'Persecution of Uyghurs in China' at Oak Ridge talk
“Persecution of Uyghurs in China” will be the topic of the second in the four-part series of presentations in the 2024 “Our American Roots: An Exploration of Cultures” program on Tuesday, March 26, in Oak Ridge.
The speaker will be Abdurahim Oguz, a Uyghur physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory who was born in northwestern China and is now a U.S. citizen.
His talk will start at 6 p.m. at the Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) New Hope Center, 602 Scarboro Road. Doors will open at 5 p.m. for a reception for him, during which light food will be served.
The American Roots series, co-sponsored by the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club and the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning, will explore in the next two months the laws affecting Latino immigration and the Jewish experience in the region.
According to Oguz, “Uyghurs are the indigenous people living mainly in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Uyghurs are a Turkic people that have few cultural or linguistic similarities with China’s Han majority.
“Since 2016, the Chinese government has targeted Uyghur people with a vast surveillance system, heavy policing, mass detentions and forced labor systems. Researchers estimate that more than 1 million Uyghurs have been detained in a series of prison camps throughout the region.
“The U.S., Canadian and several other governments have accused the Chinese government of committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghur people, after evidence emerged that the Chinese government has forcibly sterilized Uyghur women, separated children from families and forbidden certain Uyghur cultural practices.”
In his talk, Oguz will provide a brief overview on the forementioned events combined with the speaker’s experiences in his native homeland and in the United States. He will describe what he calls “a unique journey of an immigrant who dreamed to become a free man.”
Oguz received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 2011. Prior to joining ORNL, he held research associate positions at Penn State University and the University of Tennessee.
His current research is focused on developing laser and optical technologies for several key projects at particle accelerators at the Spallation Neutron Source.
Oguz is a recipient of two ORNL awards, including a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Seed Project Award in 2018 and a Mission Support Award in 2020. He is a member of the American Physical Society, Optica (formerly known as the Optical Society of America) and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).
Oguz was born in Kucha in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (aka East Turkistan) of China. He has been living in the United States since 2003 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: American Roots to focus on 'Persecution of Uyghurs in China' March 26
