The mobilization of ‘capabilities’ as an idea and practice in today’s China

This article examines how Amartya Sen's concept of ‘capabilities’¹ is deployed as state discourse in China to justify the socio-political engineering of minority communities, particularly Uyghurs. Promoted as a developmental tool, the narrative casts these groups as ‘backward’ and needing intervention - yet rather than promoting equity, it reinforces structural inequalities and legitimizes Han Chinese exclusion of Uyghur identities. Drawing from interviews and fieldwork conducted between 2018 and 2025, the research explores how Uyghurs navigate their daily and spiritual lives in urban China, facing policies they perceive as alien yet imposed by a state claiming to represent them. Introducing the concepts of ‘space of mind’ and ‘pensabilities’, the study highlights alternative epistemologies and pluralistic strategies that challenge homogenizing integration practices. These offer new visions for genuine development and belonging, revealing the nuanced tensions between identity, citizenship and state policy in a deeply multi-normative national context.