Moving Mountains
Ethnicity and Livelihoods in Highland China, Vietnam, and Laos
Published on 1. December 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-7748-1838-4 (ISBN)
Description
The mountainous borderlands of socialist China, Vietnam, and Laos are home to some seventy million people, representing an astonishing array of ethnic diversity. How are these peoples fashioning livelihoods now that their homeland is open to economic investment and political change?
Moving Mountains presents the work of anthropologists, geographers, and political economists who have first-hand experience in the Southeast Asian Massif. Although scholars have typically represented highland people from this region as marginalized and powerless, these case studies - on groups such as the Drung in Yunnan, the Khmu in Laos, and the Hmong in Vietnam - argue that ethnic minorities draw on culture and ethnicity to indigenize modernity and maintain their livelihoods. This unprecedented glimpse into a poorly understood region shows that development initiatives must be built on strong knowledge of local cultures in order to have lasting effect.
Moving Mountains presents the work of anthropologists, geographers, and political economists who have first-hand experience in the Southeast Asian Massif. Although scholars have typically represented highland people from this region as marginalized and powerless, these case studies - on groups such as the Drung in Yunnan, the Khmu in Laos, and the Hmong in Vietnam - argue that ethnic minorities draw on culture and ethnicity to indigenize modernity and maintain their livelihoods. This unprecedented glimpse into a poorly understood region shows that development initiatives must be built on strong knowledge of local cultures in order to have lasting effect.
Reviews / Votes
This expertly edited and unusually coherent collection of enlightening essays on livelihoods and cultural identities in the post-socialist situations of China, Vietnam and Laos, adds usefully to the emerging literature on the borderlands of what the editors call the "Southeast Asian Massif"...this well-edited book is an argument for and demonstration of the value of good ethnography in the developmental context and as such it deserves to be very widely read. - Nicholas Tapp, East China Normal University, Shanghai, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University (The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology) ... this book is much more than a collection of individually interesting case study chapters. There is an argument that weaves its way through the text. After an intriguing foreword from Terry McGee where he connects his interest in urban change with the book's concern with highland change, there are eight core chapters bookended by a substantial introduction from the editors, editors, and a rather briefer conclusion. - Jonathan Rigg (Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, June 2013)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Vancouver
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
15 b&w photographs, 16 maps, 6 graphs & tables
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
392 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7748-1838-4 (9780774818384)
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
Persons
Jean Michaud is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Universite Laval. Tim Forsyth is a reader in environment and development at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Contributors: Steeve Daviau, Olivier Evrard, Tim Forsyth, Stephane Gros, Terry McGee, John McKinnon, Marie Mellac, Jean Michaud, Janet C. Sturgeon, Margaret Byrne Swain, Claire Tugault-Lafleur, and Sarah Turner
Contributors: Steeve Daviau, Olivier Evrard, Tim Forsyth, Stephane Gros, Terry McGee, John McKinnon, Marie Mellac, Jean Michaud, Janet C. Sturgeon, Margaret Byrne Swain, Claire Tugault-Lafleur, and Sarah Turner
Content
Illustrations
Foreword / Terry McGee
Acknowledgments
1 Rethinking the Relationships between Livelihoods and Ethnicity in Highland China, Vietnam, and Laos / Tim Forsyth and Jean Michaud
2 Economic Marginalization and Social Identity among the Drung People of Northwest Yunnan / Stephane Gros
3 Integration of a Lineage Society on the Laos-Vietnam Border / Steeve Daviau
4 Oral Histories of Livelihoods and Migration under Socialism and Post-Socialism among the Khmu of Northern Laos / Olivier Evrard
5 Of Rice and Spice: Hmong Livelihood and Diversification in the Northern Vietnam Uplands / Claire Tugault-Lafleur and Sarah Turner
6 Hani Agency and Ways of Seeing Environmental Change on the China-Vietnam Border / John McKinnon
7 Land Reform and Changing Identities in Two Tai-Speaking Districts in Northern Vietnam / Marie Mellac
8 Commoditized Ethnicity for Tourism Development in Yunnan / Margaret Byrne Swain
9 Rubber Transformations: Post-Socialist Livelihoods and Identities for Akha and Tai Lue Farmers in Xishuangbanna, China / Janet C. Sturgeon
10 Conclusion: Lesson for the Future / Jean Michaud
Contributors
Index
Foreword / Terry McGee
Acknowledgments
1 Rethinking the Relationships between Livelihoods and Ethnicity in Highland China, Vietnam, and Laos / Tim Forsyth and Jean Michaud
2 Economic Marginalization and Social Identity among the Drung People of Northwest Yunnan / Stephane Gros
3 Integration of a Lineage Society on the Laos-Vietnam Border / Steeve Daviau
4 Oral Histories of Livelihoods and Migration under Socialism and Post-Socialism among the Khmu of Northern Laos / Olivier Evrard
5 Of Rice and Spice: Hmong Livelihood and Diversification in the Northern Vietnam Uplands / Claire Tugault-Lafleur and Sarah Turner
6 Hani Agency and Ways of Seeing Environmental Change on the China-Vietnam Border / John McKinnon
7 Land Reform and Changing Identities in Two Tai-Speaking Districts in Northern Vietnam / Marie Mellac
8 Commoditized Ethnicity for Tourism Development in Yunnan / Margaret Byrne Swain
9 Rubber Transformations: Post-Socialist Livelihoods and Identities for Akha and Tai Lue Farmers in Xishuangbanna, China / Janet C. Sturgeon
10 Conclusion: Lesson for the Future / Jean Michaud
Contributors
Index