Practices on the periphery: Marginality, border powers, and land use in China and Thailand

This is a comparative study of Akha strategies for land use and livelihood on the periphery of China and Thailand and within the Golden Triangle. At the national scale, I trace the production of marginality in what is now China and Thailand, finding images of peripheral peoples begun centuries ago that have been reworked in the 20th century as "remote" and "backward" minorities. By focusing on citizenship, property rights, and state claims on rural resources, I illuminate the distinct processes of marginality in China and Thailand, through which Akha shifting cultivators have emerged in China as citizens and grain producers for the state, while in Thailand they have been construed as "not Thai" (and not citizens) and forest destroyers.; In the Golden Triangle, examining another marginality, I show the transformation of small border powers from principalities on the fringes of Southeast Asian kingdoms to coercive forces in the violent, drug producing areas of Burma. Rebel armies and drug lords are linked by patronage and trade to power brokers in hill tribe areas of Thailand and border reaches of China. Akha village heads, as small border patrons, present themselves to their governments as defenders of the realm, "in the know" about rebel armies, while at the same time participating in illegal cross-border trade.; Through their border position, Akha village heads control local resource access. In the past 15 years, conflicts in China have erupted over what resources are commoditized, and who benefits. In contention with the village head, Akha villagers, as citizens, have some recourse against predatory practices. In Thailand, conflicts have centered on access to land and labor opportunities, as the village head's control over both has substantially increased.; Akha land use shows a combination of a spatial familiarity with micro sites and a temporal understanding of the potential plasticity of land cover. State knowledge forms of property rights in bounded areas threaten Akha use of their environmental knowledge, although the imposition of property rights in China allows Akha to manage village forests, while in Thailand the forest is being moved outside Akha control or use.