| For the Dai or Tai Luc of Sipsongpanna (Xishuangbanna) of Southwestern China, wet rice cultivation, supported by a traditional locally-controlled communal irrigation system called nam meung fai, has always been at the core of their cultural identity and a means of providing a sustainable living. However, as part of the Chinese State that is carrying out an on-going process of peripheral assimilation, the Tai Luc have increasingly been subjected to the pressures of modernization and development that are imposed by the central government.; The overall objectives of this research are to examine the intricate irrigation system of nam meung fai in order to gain a better understanding of its central function in Tai Luc economy, politics, religion, society, and culture; to ascertain how this system has changed under different policies enforced on the Tai Lue by the Communist regime of China; and to determine the transformations in the Tai Lue indigenous knowledge system (IKS) that resulted from the effects of those policies on the nam meung fai irrigation system.; Included in the study are policies that deal with the land tenure systems such as the Household Responsibility System, policies that deal with natural resources such as rubber plantation and deforestation, and policies that deal with resettlement schemes. Both qualitative and quantitative data, mainly geographical information system (GIS), are used as analytical tools.; The thesis suggests that the Tai Lue's irrigation system is an essential part of their identity. Policies implemented by the central government have directly altered the Tai Lue as wet rice cultivators. This dissertation also argues that the state's efforts to transform the Tai Lue into an integral part of China, while ignoring their IKS, have caused much turmoil for them. |
