The relationship between border and bureaucracy offers fertile ground to study how the border con... more The relationship between border and bureaucracy offers fertile ground to study how the border continues to affect the lives and movement of people. As epistemological and material sites, borders and their document networks work to produce categories of people. The production of border documents also creates various forms of mediator that traverse in and outside the state arena. Such fluidity of the documentary traffic thus generates a subversive economy that facilitates an unauthorized mobility, which undermines the efficiency of the state document itself. While the anthropology of border attempts to redefine the border’s spatio-temporality through examining border practices, state and border crossing populations remain the key actors. This article attempts to move away from the duality of the relationship between state and border dweller by investigating the politics of border mediation. It argues that bureaucratic ID documentation in Thailand has been a significant tool that not only defines the migrants, but also shapes the way in which the border is (re)made. While the aim of the bureaucratic document is to serve the state’s objective of border control, the circulation of documents has created extra-state industries, such as extortion, bribery and brokerage, that allow the fluid labourscape to flourish.
Where China Meets Southeast Asia: Social and Cultural Change in the Border Regions edited by Gran... more Where China Meets Southeast Asia: Social and Cultural Change in the Border Regions edited by Grant Evans et al., is among the few works that take borderlands between China and mainland Southeast Asia seriously. A major contribution of this collection of border studies is its attempt to understand how border experiences and the process of bordering have changed since the early 1990s. Various Chinese-local interactions are explored in this book, with an emphasis on complex local responses to border transformations and diverse forms of mobility and network building. This article further examines the role of China and the Lao state, and the new wave of Chinese movement at the border. In establishing an economic integration that spills across the region, the penetration of Chinese power has been effective. The consequent retreat of the Lao state at the border has not only put an end to the old frontier but turned various borderlands into an estranged space of neoliberal enclave.
This paper explores the major interactions between the transformation of swidden farming and the ... more This paper explores the major interactions between the transformation of swidden farming and the pursuit of rural livelihoods in the uplands of Southeast Asia. The paper draws on selected literature, workshop reflections, and six case studies to describe the causal processes and livelihood consequences of swidden change. Household-level livelihood responses have included both the intensi-fication and 'dis-intensification' of swidden land-use, the insertion of cash crops, the redeployment of household labour, and the taking on of broader (often non-rural) livelihood aspirations and strategies. At the community level there have been emerging institutional arrangements for management of land and forests, and varying degrees of participation in or resistance to government schemes and programs. Swidden change has led to the loss and also the reassertion, realignment, and redefinition of cultures and identities, with important implications for access to resources. The impacts of these changes have been varied. Cash crops have often improved livelihoods but complete special-isation for the market increases vulnerability. Thus swidden can still provide an important safety net in the face of market fluctuations. Improved access to markets and social provision of education and health care have mostly improved the welfare of previously isolated groups. However, growing differences within and between communities in the course of swidden transformations can leave some groups marginal-ized and worse off. These processes of differentiation can be accentuated by heavy-handed state interventions based on swidden stereotypes. Nevertheless, communities have not passively accepted these pressures and have mobilized to protect their livelihood assets and strategies. Thus swidden farmers are not resisting appropriate and supportive forms of development. They are adopting new practices and engaging with markets, but in many situations swidden is still important to their livelihood strategies, providing resilience in the face of turbulent change. Active involvement of local people is essential in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development and conservation programs in swidden lands. Positive market incentives and supportive government policies are better than standardised, top-down directives.
The relationship between border and bureaucracy offers fertile ground to study how the border con... more The relationship between border and bureaucracy offers fertile ground to study how the border continues to affect the lives and movement of people. As epistemological and material sites, borders and their document networks work to produce categories of people. The production of border documents also creates various forms of mediator that traverse in and outside the state arena. Such fluidity of the documentary traffic thus generates a subversive economy that facilitates an unauthorized mobility, which undermines the efficiency of the state document itself. While the anthropology of border attempts to redefine the border’s spatio-temporality through examining border practices, state and border crossing populations remain the key actors. This article attempts to move away from the duality of the relationship between state and border dweller by investigating the politics of border mediation. It argues that bureaucratic ID documentation in Thailand has been a significant tool that not only defines the migrants, but also shapes the way in which the border is (re)made. While the aim of the bureaucratic document is to serve the state’s objective of border control, the circulation of documents has created extra-state industries, such as extortion, bribery and brokerage, that allow the fluid labourscape to flourish.
Where China Meets Southeast Asia: Social and Cultural Change in the Border Regions edited by Gran... more Where China Meets Southeast Asia: Social and Cultural Change in the Border Regions edited by Grant Evans et al., is among the few works that take borderlands between China and mainland Southeast Asia seriously. A major contribution of this collection of border studies is its attempt to understand how border experiences and the process of bordering have changed since the early 1990s. Various Chinese-local interactions are explored in this book, with an emphasis on complex local responses to border transformations and diverse forms of mobility and network building. This article further examines the role of China and the Lao state, and the new wave of Chinese movement at the border. In establishing an economic integration that spills across the region, the penetration of Chinese power has been effective. The consequent retreat of the Lao state at the border has not only put an end to the old frontier but turned various borderlands into an estranged space of neoliberal enclave.
This paper explores the major interactions between the transformation of swidden farming and the ... more This paper explores the major interactions between the transformation of swidden farming and the pursuit of rural livelihoods in the uplands of Southeast Asia. The paper draws on selected literature, workshop reflections, and six case studies to describe the causal processes and livelihood consequences of swidden change. Household-level livelihood responses have included both the intensi-fication and 'dis-intensification' of swidden land-use, the insertion of cash crops, the redeployment of household labour, and the taking on of broader (often non-rural) livelihood aspirations and strategies. At the community level there have been emerging institutional arrangements for management of land and forests, and varying degrees of participation in or resistance to government schemes and programs. Swidden change has led to the loss and also the reassertion, realignment, and redefinition of cultures and identities, with important implications for access to resources. The impacts of these changes have been varied. Cash crops have often improved livelihoods but complete special-isation for the market increases vulnerability. Thus swidden can still provide an important safety net in the face of market fluctuations. Improved access to markets and social provision of education and health care have mostly improved the welfare of previously isolated groups. However, growing differences within and between communities in the course of swidden transformations can leave some groups marginal-ized and worse off. These processes of differentiation can be accentuated by heavy-handed state interventions based on swidden stereotypes. Nevertheless, communities have not passively accepted these pressures and have mobilized to protect their livelihood assets and strategies. Thus swidden farmers are not resisting appropriate and supportive forms of development. They are adopting new practices and engaging with markets, but in many situations swidden is still important to their livelihood strategies, providing resilience in the face of turbulent change. Active involvement of local people is essential in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development and conservation programs in swidden lands. Positive market incentives and supportive government policies are better than standardised, top-down directives.
This paper traces the historical relationship between sex, gender, and primatology. It demonstrat... more This paper traces the historical relationship between sex, gender, and primatology. It demonstrates how Darwinism, Structural-Functionalism, and Sociobiological Theory have been influential in supporting androcentric primatological research and data in the early period and how such formulation has been contested by feminist primatologists since the mid-twentieth century onward. Feminist primatologists have significantly contributed to reconceptualizing the evolutionary theory in primate studies. By shifting the focus from the male-focused perspective to female point of view, attention has been paid to female primates, mother-infant relationships, matrifocal units, female coalitions, critical review of sexual dimorphism and important features of primate group's social dynamics. Such feminist turn has problematized the predominant basis of natural science and its claim over objectivity while striving for an alternative paradigm of nature beyond the purview of reductionism and dualism.
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Papers by Pinkaew Laungaramsri
KEYWORDS: Textual border, identification paper, migrants, mobility, extortion, Thailand
KEYWORDS: Textual border, identification paper, migrants, mobility, extortion, Thailand