Southeast Asian Massif Research Articles

Infrastructure Meets Infrapolitics: Emic Negotiation of State and Market Inputs in Upland Northern Vietnam

In the northern uplands of Vietnam, the socialist state is building infrastructures of many kinds to harness the once-remote peoples living there to the nation’s economic, political, and cultural core. As embodiments of uneven power forces, these new infrastructures have major impacts on local livelihoods and have triggered an array of responses to the modernist design of the state. This study examines how the Hmong, a kinship-based ethnic group of the Southeast Asian Massif, use, cope with, adjust to, and contest these infrastructures and related changes. In an emic perspective, we offer an ethnographic account of social change of a marginal people at the crossroad of infrastructures and infrapolitics.

Concealed for a Long Time on the Marches of Empires: Hepatitis B Virus Genotype I.

Genotype I, the penultimate HBV genotype to date, was granted the status of a bona fide genotype only in the XXIst century after some hesitations. The reason for these hesitations was that genotype I is a complex recombinant virus formed with segments from three original genotypes, A, C, and G. It was estimated that genotype I is responsible for only an infinitesimal fraction (<1.0%) of the chronic HBV infection burden worldwide. Furthermore, most probably due to its recent discovery and rarity, the natural history of infection with genotype I is poorly known in comparison with those of genotypes B or C that predominate in their area of circulation. Overall, genotype I is a minor genotype infecting ethnic minorities. It is endemic to the Southeast Asian Massif or Eastern Zomia, a vast mountainous or hilly region of 2.5 million km2 spreading from Eastern India to China, inhabited by a little more than 100 million persons belonging primarily to ethnic minorities speaking various types of languages (Tibeto-Burman, Austroasiatic, and Tai-Kadai) who managed to escape the authority of central states during historical times. Genotype I consists of two subtypes: I1, present in China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam; and I2, encountered in India, Laos, and Vietnam.

Sub‐Grid Representation of Vegetation Cover in Land Surface Schemes Improves the Modeling of How Climate Responds to Deforestation

AbstractUnderstanding the regional climate response to land cover change requires a realistic sub‐grid representation of vegetation cover in the land surface scheme (LSS) of climate models. The Community Land Model (CLM) is considered one of the most advanced LSSs; however, when coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, the tiling vegetation cover approach was deactivated. Here, we reactivated the theoretical sub‐grid vegetation cover representation in WRF‐CLM and applied it to assess the impacts of deforestation on regional climate in the Southeast Asian Massif region. We found that CLM‐tiling performs more accurate simulations of surface air temperature and precipitation compared to other LSSs using the in situ observations. Importantly, CLM‐tiling successfully captures the theoretical sensitivity of evapotranspiration (ET) and temperature to sub‐grid deforestation, aligning with Noah‐mosaic, and it substantially improves the spatial pattern responses of simulated ET and temperature to regional deforestation.

Phylogeny of Alisma (Alismataceae) revisited: implications for polyploid evolution and species delimitation.

Alisma L. is a genus of aquatic and wetland plants belonging to family Alismataceae. At present, it is thought to contain ten species. Variation in ploidy level is known in the genus, with diploids, tetraploids and hexaploids recorded. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies of Alisma have generated a robust backbone that reveals important aspects of the evolutionary history of this cosmopolitan genus, yet questions remain unresolved about the formation of the polyploid taxa and the taxonomy of one particularly challenging, widely distributed species complex. Here we directly sequenced, or cloned and sequenced, nuclear DNA (nrITS and phyA) and chloroplast DNA (matK, ndhF, psbA-trnH and rbcL) of multiple samples of six putative species and two varieties, and conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses. Alisma canaliculatum and its two varieties known in East Asia and A. rariflorum endemic to Japan possess closely related but heterogeneous genomes, strongly indicating that the two species were generated from two diploid progenitors, and are possibly siblings of one another. This evolutionary event may have occurred in Japan. Alisma canaliculatum var. canaliculatum is segregated into two types, each of which are geographically slightly differentiated in Japan. We reconstructed a single phylogeny based on the multi-locus data using Homologizer and then applied species delimitation analysis (STACEY). This allowed us to discern A. orientale as apparently endemic to the Southeast Asian Massif and distinct from the widespread A. plantago-aquatica. The former species was most likely formed through parapatric speciation at the southern edge of the distribution of the latter.

Seeking an ‘Ideal Place’ in a Nuosu Origin Epic

Abstract The Book of Origins (hnewo tepyy) is a major ritual text of the Nuosu, a subgroup of the official Yi (Yizu) ethnic group of southwest China. The narrative, existing in both written and oral variants, is part of a living tradition, especially among priests (bimo) and folk singers, in the Liangshan Yi autonomous region in Sichuan province and nearby Yunnan province. The epic narrates the creation of the sky, earth, and living creatures through the frame of genealogies. After an age of scorching heat, life is re-seeded on earth and a descendant of the snow tribes of flora and fauna finds a bride. Many generations later this union results in the marriage between an earthling and the Sky God’s daughter. The tropes of genealogy and migration intertwine in the storyworld as clans descended from the couple seek out an “ideal place” to settle and prosper in the local environment in a pattern that resonates with other epics from the southwest and the Southeast Asian Massif.

Languages, Scripts, and Chinese Texts in East Asia

Languages, Scripts, and Chinese Texts in East Asia

A late 2nd/early 1st millennium BC interaction arc between Mainland Southeast Asia and Southwest China: Archaeometallurgical data from Hebosuo and Shangxihe, Yunnan

In this paper we use archaeometallurgical data from the Yunnanese Bronze Age sites of Hebosuo and Shangxihi, to examine the nature of early exchange networks within Yunnan, across southern China and into Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). Traditional perspectives on relations between China and MSEA were viewed from a Core-Periphery (C–P) perspective, derived from World Systems Theory (WST) but this area, though now divided by national borders, has shared ecological and cultural characteristics that allow its definition as the Southeast Asian Massif (SAM).The fourteen analysed samples were all unleaded copper or bronze, mostly as-cast and with some annealing. Their lead isotope signatures did not group at site level but showed broad consistency with the other, limited, signatures available from Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi. Critically, comparison with MSEA signatures revealed good isotopic consistency with key Bronze Age sites in Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, active within tight timeframes, and mostly lying on or near the path of major river systems that find their source in or via Yunnan. The picture we propose, based on current data, is one of a complex network of autochthonous SAM societies interacting at short (ca. 50 km), medium (ca. 300 km) and long (ca. 800–1600 km) ranges over mountainous and forested terrain.

Slow forms of infrastructural violence: The case of Vietnam’s mountainous northern borderlands

In Vietnam’s northern mountainous borderlands, ethnic minority Hmong and Yao farmers must constantly negotiate the Vietnamese state’s aspirations to bring these rural communities under greater control. The state is working hard to integrate this territorial periphery, along with its people, land, and resources, while altering local livelihoods to better fit centralised aims and imperatives. These efforts are closely linked to a number of infrastructure programmes. While scholars have contributed important work regarding the wide-ranging impacts of highly visible rural infrastructural projects such as dams and highways, I focus here on three less-well documented state-driven or encouraged projects. These include the implementation of hybrid seed systems, ‘upgrading’ or creating new marketplaces that are both spatially and temporally fixed, and the significant expansion of tourism-sector infrastructure. Drawing on conceptual literature from the infrastructural turn, especially regarding infrastructural violence and infrastructural lives, I examine the impacts these projects have on upland ethnic minority livelihoods. While the Vietnamese state appears to be winning in its quest to territorialise and ‘modernise’ this borderland region, I highlight how minority individuals and households (re)shape specific infrastructural lives with tactics that include subtly disrupting or resisting such state-supported initiatives. I make the case that more attention needs to be paid to infrastructure projects that might be only barely perceptible, but that are nonetheless perpetuating slow forms of infrastructural violence across the Southeast Asian Massif.

The Critical Effect of Subgrid‐Scale Scheme on Simulating the Climate Impacts of Deforestation

AbstractLand surface schemes (LSSs) in Earth System Models simulate how vegetation regulates land‐atmosphere fluxes of heat, water, carbon, and momentum. Despite advances in the spatial resolution of regional climate modeling, significant land cover changes occured at sub‐grid scale still not properly treated. Here, we investigate the response of evapotranspiration, representing the fluxes of heat and water, to deforestation in Southeast Asian Massif by employing three LSSs (Noah mosaic, Noah‐MP and Community Land Model (CLM)) with different approaches in representing sub‐grid variability, implemented in the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Two experiments, with and without satellite‐observed deforestation, were performed for each scheme. Results show that the simulations are highly sensitive to the subgrid‐scale approaches embedded in the LSSs. Compared with the observed historical climate, CLM outperforms other schemes and Noah mosaic shows the largest bias. However, if we target the simulation of the climate impacts of land cover change, the Noah mosaic scheme taking the sub‐grid approach can better capture the response of evapotranspiration to deforestation. The NoahMP and CLM schemes underestimate the evapotranspiration response in the grid cells where the dominant land cover type has not changed, but overestimate the response in those grid cells with dominant type changed, which is a characteristic of dominant‐grid approach. To improve our understanding of climate impacts induced by fine‐scale land cover change, future efforts to better represent subgrid‐scale variability and land‐atmosphere flux exchange in climate models are desirable.

Deforestation-induced warming over tropical mountain regions regulated by elevation

Agriculture is expanding in tropical mountainous areas, yet its climatic effect is poorly understood. Here, we investigate how elevation regulates the biophysical climate impacts of deforestation over tropical mountainous areas by integrating satellite-observed forest cover changes into a high-resolution land–atmosphere coupled model. We show that recent forest conversion between 2000 and 2014 increased the regional warming by 0.022 ± 0.002 °C in the Southeast Asian Massif, 0.010 ± 0.007 °C in the Barisan Mountains (Maritime Southeast Asia), 0.042 ± 0.010 °C in the Serra da Espinhaco (South America) and 0.047 ± 0.008 °C in the Albertine Rift mountains (Africa) during the local dry season. The deforestation-driven local temperature anomaly can reach up to 2 °C where forest conversion is extensive. The warming from mountain deforestation depends on elevation, through the intertwined and opposing effects of increased albedo causing cooling and decreased evapotranspiration causing warming. As the elevation increases, the albedo effect increases in importance and the warming effect decreases, analogous to previously highlighted decreases of deforestation-induced warming with increasing latitude. As most new croplands are encroaching lands at low to moderate elevations, deforestation produces higher warming from suppressed evapotranspiration. Impacts of this additional warming on crop yields, land degradation and biodiversity of nearby intact ecosystems should be incorporated into future assessments. Deforestation causes elevation-dependent warming over tropical mountain regions, according to high-resolution climate simulations.

The Territorialization of Vietnam’s Northern Upland Frontier

Agricultural expansion and resource exploitation are reconfiguring the Southeast Asian Massif in important ways, with related in-migration to these uplands increasing rapidly. Within this region, the northern Vietnam frontier has an unusual migration history, including state-sponsored resettlement and spontaneous migration. While analyzing the reflections of 90 migrants, we investigate the patterns and processes by which Vietnam’s northern uplands have been peopled with lowland migrants from World War II until today, revealing three key waves or temporal groups. Focusing on these groups, we compare migrants’ everyday lived experiences during and soon after their journeys, with a range of unmet expectations, concerns, and tensions becoming apparent. This combination means that while the taming and territorialization of this upland frontier can be considered structurally complete, for migrant settlers their new home remains an ambiguous social space.

Accelerating forest loss in Southeast Asian Massif in the 21st century: A case study in Nan Province, Thailand.

Farmers are carving a new agricultural frontier from the forests in the Southeast Asian Massif (SAM) in the 21st century, triggering significant environment degradation at the local scale; however, this frontier has been missed by existing global land use and forest loss analyses. In this paper, we chose Thailand's Nan Province, which is located in the geometric center of SAM, as a case study, and combined high resolution forest cover change product with a fine-scale land cover map to investigate land use dynamics with respect to topography in this region. Our results show that total forest loss in Nan Province during 2001-2016 was 66,072ha (9.1% of the forest cover in 2000), and that the majority of this lost forest (92%) had been converted into crop (mainly corn) fields by 2017. Annual forest loss is significantly correlated with global corn price (p<0.01), re-confirming agricultural expansion as a key driver of forest loss in Nan Province. Along with the increasing global corn price, forest loss in Nan Province has accelerated at a rate of 2,616±730ha per decade (p<0.01). Global corn price peaked in 2012, in which year annual forest loss also reached its peak (7,523ha); since then, the location of forest loss has moved to steeper land at higher elevations. Spatially, forest loss driven by this smallholder agricultural expansion emerges as many small patches that are not recognizable even at a moderate spatial resolution (e.g. 300m). It explains how existing global land use/cover change products have missed the widespread and rapid forest loss in SAM. It also highlights the importance of high-resolution observations to evaluate the environmental impacts of agricultural expansion and forest loss in SAM, including, but not limited to, the impacts on the global carbon cycle, regional hydrology, and local environmental degradation.

Were the Miao Kings “Prophets of Renewal”? The Case of the 1795–1797 Hunan Miao Revolt

This essay considers the concept of of introduced by James Scott in The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (2009), as seen in the context of the 1795–97 revolt along China's Hunan-Guizhou border. The appearance of a Miao King and four Wu centering anti-Qing resistance in an intractable highland—utilizing native legends, spirit possession, investment of officials, and multi-ethnic Recruitment—suggests a case of Zomia (the vast Southeast Asian Massif) prophets in action, as Scott himself suggests. Closer examination, however, reveals a more complex and uncertain picture, characterized by division between rival lords and an overall dearth of institutional, ideological, or cosmological elaboration, all further obscured by a paucity of historical sources. The kings might be seen as prophets of renewal in a general sense, but the fit is inexact. There is still value, however, in considering Scott's model in the study of this event. It enables a sharper conceptualization of the agency of the people, while offering a case for comparison with analogous instances of religiously-based native resistance on other Qing frontiers.

Sow efficiency and early piglet mortality in two local pig breeds on smallholder farms in northern Vietnam-a longitudinal study.

In the recent past, pig performance and sow management on smallholder farms in the Southeast Asian Massif have been extensively researched. But the objective of this study was to investigate the lifetime efficiency of breeding sows of the local Vietnamese Ban (n=89) and Mong Cai (n=131) breeds in a production system context. The impact of sow longevity was considered in particular. In addition, predictors of early pre-weaning mortality in piglets were investigated. In total, nine villages of Son La province, situated in the uplands of north-western Vietnam, were selected, differing in access to markets, production intensity, and pig management level. Data was collected over a period of 10years through an on-farm performance testing system. It was shown that sows of both breeds that achieved five or more parities farrowed and weaned significantly more piglets per life year compared to sows with only one or two parities. The conception rate (Spearman's rho=0.374) and age at first farrowing (Spearman's rho=-0.424) were significantly correlated with the number of weaned piglets per life year of stayable (≥4 parities) Mong Cai sows. The risk of early pre-weaning death of piglets born to Mong Cai sows was affected more by litter size, while for piglets born to Ban sows, the risk was influenced more by the season. Therefore, interventions to improve the sow lifetime efficiency and piglet survivability must match the sow breed and management level.

Tailoring slaughter weight of indigenous Vietnamese Ban pigs for the requirements of urban high-end niche markets

Slaughtered at heavy live weights, carcasses of the autochthonous Vietnamese Ban pig breed are not marketable on the highly remunerative niche markets of the urban Red River Delta. Therefore, Ban pigs are traded often at just 10 to 15kg to avoid excessive fat accumulation. However, already, a moderate increase of slaughter weights might lead to rising profits for smallholder farmers in the uplands. Thus, this research aimed at investigating the effect of increasing live weight on the carcass composition and meat quality of indigenous Ban pigs qualifying for commerce on high-end markets. Fifty-six castrated male Ban fatteners with body weights ranging from 6.5 to 29.3kg were collected from smallholder farmers applying a feeding system based on banana pseudostem (Musa spp.) and slaughtered by local slaughterers according to common practice. The carcass quality of 51 animals and, additionally, meat quality parameters of the loin and ham of 56 animals were assessed. For the evaluation of increased live weights on commodity prices, two pricing systems based on actual market prices for Ban fatteners in Son La town and Hanoi were suggested. Carcass fat depots did not significantly increase when body weights were raised from 12 to approximately 20kg, and the distribution of primal cuts and the meat quality of the loin and ham were relatively stable. Thus, the currently applied slaughter weights for purebred Ban pigs appear to be suboptimal, and a moderate increase of slaughter weights to approximately 20kg is feasible and could result in monetary benefits. In this context, the role of small-scale slaughterers for value chain upgrading is discussed. In conclusion, increasingly formalized value chains for traditional pork products could provide the potential to not only contribute to rural development in the Southeast Asian Massif, but also to the conservation of animal genetic resources of a highly valuable eco-cultural region.

Becoming Stateless: Historical Experience and Its Refl ection on the Concept of State among the Lahu in Yunnan and Mainland Southeast Asian Massif

This paper aims to contribute to James Scott’s discussion of statelessness in “Zomia” by examining the realities of political autonomy and the concepts of state and kingship of the Lahu. During the nineteenth century, “kings” appeared among the Lahu in parts of southwest Yunnan. Indeed, the Lahu enjoyed political autonomy under their own kings before these were eliminated in the process of modern state formation and border demarcation in China and Burma. Messianic movements emerged among the Lahu after they became stateless. These movements stressed the need to redeem the lost states and kings throughout the course of the Lahu’s modern history. In this respect, statelessness is not a timeless, quintessential attribute of the Lahu. Rather, they only became conscious of statelessness during the modern period. What this demonstrates is that the Lahu have never been conscious anarchists who chose to avoid kings and states. They possess their own original concepts of state and kingship, even though these differ from our conventional understanding, and the main theme of their historical experience and mythical accounts centers around their search for their own state and king.

Red stamps and green tea: fieldwork negotiations and dilemmas in the Sino‐Vietnamese borderlands

The socialist spaces within the upland Southeast Asian Massif are home to over 70 million people belonging to geographically dispersed and politically fragmented ethnic minority populations. State authorities have long considered these upland margins as frontier regions where ‘inconsequential peoples’ lag behind national standards. Over time, the Chinese and Vietnamese states have worked to enclose these spaces through a range of ‘development’ programmes and politico‐economic strategies. Undertaking qualitative social science research here is underscored by a specific set of challenges (red stamps), dilemmas and negotiations (green tea). In a contemporary context that interweaves economic liberalisation with centralised and authoritarian political structures, I explore how I have negotiated and manoeuvred access to ethnic minority voices. Specifically, I focus on fieldwork endeavours in the Sino‐Vietnamese borderlands to answer two core questions. First, in these socialist arenas, how can researchers negotiate access to still‐marginalised groups misunderstood by the central state? And second, what are the most pressing ethical questions raised by cross‐cultural fieldwork in these spaces and how might these be addressed? While debating these ethical and methodological challenges, I reflect upon the numerous roles of gatekeepers, concerns over the well‐being of interviewees and the importance of self‐censorship.

Challenges and dilemmas: fieldwork with upland minorities in socialist Vietnam, Laos and southwest China

The Chinese, Vietnamese and Lao spaces within the upland Southeast Asian massif, sheltering over 80 million people belonging to geographically dispersed and politically fragmented minority populations, have only recently reopened to overseas academic endeavours. Undertaking social sciences research there among ethnic minority groups is underscored by a specific set of challenges, dilemmas, and negotiations. This special issue brings together Western academics and post-fieldwork doctoral students from the realms of social anthropology and human geography, who have conducted in-depth fieldwork among ethnic minorities in upland southwest China, northern Vietnam, and southern Laos. The articles provide insights into the struggles and constraints they faced in the field, set against an understanding of the historical context of field research in these locales. In this unique context that nowadays interweaves economic liberalisation with centralised and authoritarian political structures, the authors explore how they have negotiated and manoeuvred access to ethnic minority voices in complex cultural configurations. The ethical challenges raised and methodological reflections offered will be insightful for others conducting fieldwork in the socialist margins of the Southeast Asian massif and beyond. This specific context is introduced here, followed by a critique of the literature on the core themes that contributors raise.

Editorial – Zomia and beyond

AbstractThis editorial develops two themes. First, it discusses how historical and anthropological approaches can relate to each other, in the field of the highland margins of Asia and beyond. Second, it explores how we might further our understandings of the uplands of Asia by applying different terms such as ‘Haute-Asie’, the ‘Southeast Asian Massif’, the ‘Hindu Kush–Himalayan region’, the ‘Himalayan Massif’, and in particular ‘Zomia’, a neologism gaining popularity with the publication of James C. Scott’s latest book, The art of not being governed: an anarchist history of upland Southeast Asia.1 Through a discussion of the notion of Zomia, I will reconsider certain ‘truths’ regarding highland Asian studies. In the process, I seek to contribute to disembedding minority studies from the national straitjackets that have been imposed by academic research bounded by the historical, ideological, and political limits of the nation-state.

Zomian or zombies? What future exists for the peoples of the Southeast Asian Massif?

AbstractAgainst the simplistic thesis that hill peoples are marginal and unruly groups by choice, in conflict with state power, this article shows that, in the context of mainland Southeast Asia, hill peoples develop relationships with lowland state societies that are more complex and ambiguous than usually portrayed. Ethnographic and historical evidence reveals that they compromise and cooperate with the lowland state more often than they oppose it. Although hill peoples are commonly conceived as ‘barbarians’ of the periphery, and ill-treated or instrumentalized accordingly, in some circumstances they played a central role in the defence and the reshaping of pre-modern and modern Southeast Asian states. Moreover, their political and religious acculturation by lowland societies sometimes proves to have been instrumental in the perpetuation of a specific identity under the guise of surface assimilation. This article not only highlights the dynamics of past and present interactions between lowland and upland societies but also questions the future of the latter, in the context of an increasing engulfment by nation-states and, conversely, of new perspectives offered by globalization. The analysis thus demonstrates that hill peoples often take advantage of new forms of partnership resulting from globalization to renegotiate their image and status more favourably, and to counter the pressure exerted by the dominant society. Finally, they appear to be neither Zomian – that is, uncompromising rebels to ‘stateness’ in James C. Scott’s formulation – nor zombies, unable to adapt.