“Up” and “Down”. “Zomia” and the Bru of the Central Vietnamese Highlands

Abstract

In the first part of my study, based on micro-historical data related to Scott’s hypothesis, I examined whether the Bru were native to their current territory. I came to the conclusion that the Bru are, if not “native”, at least the oldest known inhabitants of this area, and although their history is inseparable from the histories of the surrounding states, they are not a people fleeing from – and only partially because of – the latter. In part two, I examine the other side of the coin: the issue of state evasion, proving that notwithstanding my criticism, Scott still provides a deep insight into the Bourdieu-esque habitus of mountain-dwellers, including the Bru, and that his thesis is much more than just a “populist post-modern history of nowhere”. In the final part of my paper, I refute Salemink’s recent propositions contending Scott’s theory, rejecting his ideas about an alleged wish for inscription into “modernity” through communism and Christianity – a wish that he attributes to hill peoples.