Abstract

No scholar has had a greater impact on the study of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs than the Swedish Orientalist and diplomat Gunnar Jarring (1907–2002). This is thanks, above all, to the remarkable archive of manuscripts from the region that he collected and curated. Known as the Jarring Collection, it may be the largest assemblage of manuscripts by Xinjiang Muslims held anywhere in the world outside China. How was this collection created, and what biases may have informed its development? By exploring the context in which the core of the Jarring Collection was developed, this article reveals unsettling allegations about Jarring’s activities during a shadowy, little-known period in his life — a dark period in Sweden’s history, during which academic and political elites were in thrall to a far-right zeitgeist that dovetailed with Germany’s Nazi movement. The article concludes by considering some implications of the Jarring Collection's biases for the study of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs.

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