Surviving the State
Land and Democracy in Myanmar
Will be published approx. on 28. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
246 pages
978-1-4780-3884-9 (ISBN)
Description
In Myanmar's Kalay Valley, a rice-growing region near the Indian border, farmers have long been subject to violence and neglect. Surviving the State considers how these farmers' everyday, land-based practices enable them to endure successive authoritarian regimes. Through robust ethnography, Hilary Oliva Faxon describes how Burman and Chin smallholders treat land not only as a source of food, but also as a living thing entwined with the families it supports. She considers the centrality of land both to state efforts at control and to inhabitants' ability to articulate claims, looking at how locals evade, obfuscate, and reinvent legal boundaries in the face of seizures, redistribution, and revolution. Providing a feminist ethnography of land politics, Surviving the State is a testament to the daily work of survival in the face of political violence.
Reviews / Votes
"Americans are beginning to sense that we need to understand how authoritarianism works - and more importantly how resistance works. No place offers perfectly adaptable lessons, but every place has stories to tell - including, in this fine volume, Myanmar. It is a testament to brave people, which we increasingly need to be."-Bill McKibben, author of, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization"Surviving the State is an eloquent and risky (in all the best ways) ethnography of struggles over land during times of authoritarianism, democracy, and beyond in Myanmar. Faxon develops a compelling frame - surviving the state - to develop a way of comprehending how Chin and Burman farmers and activists create meaning in seemingly hopeless times."-Tyrell Haberkorn, author of, Dictatorship on Trial: Coups and the Future of Justice in Thailand
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
30 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
336 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4780-3884-9 (9781478038849)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hilary Oliva Faxon is Assistant Professor of Environmental Social Science at the University of Montana.
Content
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Securing Subsistence 25
2. Making Meaningful Life 54
3. Learning Risky Rights 85
4. From Cultivating Ambiguity to Demonstrating Deservingness 115
5. Fleeing Home and Fighting Back 145
Conclusion. Seeking Justice 167
Acknowledgments 173
Appendix: Methodology 177
Notes 183
References 205
Index
Introduction 1
1. Securing Subsistence 25
2. Making Meaningful Life 54
3. Learning Risky Rights 85
4. From Cultivating Ambiguity to Demonstrating Deservingness 115
5. Fleeing Home and Fighting Back 145
Conclusion. Seeking Justice 167
Acknowledgments 173
Appendix: Methodology 177
Notes 183
References 205
Index