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 / Stéphane 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 Évrard

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

The mountainous borderlands of socialist China, Vietnam, and Laos are home to some 70 million minority people of diverse ethnicities. In Moving Mountains, anthropologists, geographers, and political economists with first-hand experience in the region explore these peoples' survival strategies, as they respond to unprecedented economic and political change. Although highland peoples are typically represented as marginalized and powerless, this volume argues 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.

Jean Michaud is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Université Laval. Tim Forsyth is a reader in environment and development at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Contributors: Steeve Daviau, Olivier Évrard, Tim Forsyth, Stéphane Gros, Terry McGee, John McKinnon, Marie Mellac, Jean Michaud, Janet C. Sturgeon, Margaret Byrne Swain, Claire Tugault-Lafleur, and Sarah Turner