Northern Laos has become a prominent spot in large-scale, top-down mappings and studies of neoliberal globalisation and infrastructural development linking Thailand and China, and markets further beyond. Yet in the common narrative, in which Laos appears as a weak victim helplessly exposed to its larger neighbours, attention is seldom paid to local voices. This book fills this gap. Building on long-term multi-sited fieldwork, it accompanies northern Lao cross-border traders closely in their transnational worlds of mobilities, social relations, economic experimentation and aspiration. Cross-Border Traders in Northern Laos: Mastering Smallness demonstrates that these traders’ indispensable but often invisible role in the everyday workings of the China-Laos-Thailand borderland economy relies on their rhetoric and practices of ‘smallness’—of framing their transnational trade activities in a self-deprecating manner and stressing their economic inferiority. Decoding their discursive surface of insignificance, this ethnography of ‘smallness’ foregrounds remarkable transnational social and economic skills that are mostly invisible in Sino-Southeast Asian borderland scholarship.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Language and Transliteration
- Introduction
- Towards an Ethnography of Smallness
- Taking Issue with Worlds of Larger Representations
- Cross-Border Traders in Laos: Unheard and Invisible in Scholarship
- The Heavy Weight of “Zomian Baggage” in (Sino-)Southeast Asian Borderlands
- Coming to Terms with my Research Motivation/Imagination
- Journeying the Field
- Outline of the Book
- 1 “We Are All Tai Lue”
- International Trade Fairs as Local Ethnic Affairs
- Xishuangbanna’s Attempts at Resembling Southeast Asia
- The Beginnings: Getting Invited to “Local Markets” in China
- Dealing with “Chinese” Customers: Between Distancing and Antagonism
- Reducing Chinese Customer Relations to the Economic Essentials
- Dealing with Tai Lue Customers: Performing “Lue Localness”
- Lao Traders’ Economic Rationale
- “Local” Advantages of Lao Traders vis-à-vis “International” Thai Traders
- Conclusion
- 2 “Normal Fruits for Laos, Premium Fruits for China”
- Transnational Flows of National Differences
- The Tai Lue in Thailand: A Cultural Source for “Lanna Thai”
- The Case of Ban Huay Meng: From Ethnic Frontier to National Fruit Frontier
- Thai Fruits in Motion: “Normal Fruits for Laos, Premium Fruits for China”
- Lao Cross-Border Traders as Mediators of Sino-Thai Frictions
- Conclusion
- 3 “Thailand: High Quality; China: Low Price”
- “Banal Cosmopolitanism” in Local Marketplaces
- “Moving with the Market”: Amnuay and Hiang
- Tracing “Banal Cosmopolitanism” at Marketplaces
- “Banal Cosmopolitanism” in Practice
- Conclusion
- 4 “I Didn’t Learn Any Occupation, so I Trade”
- Narratives of Insignificance
- Tracing Narratives of Entrepreneurial Smallness
- Trading at the Marketplace: Between (Non-)Occupation, Professionalism and Amateurism
- From muan to thammada: Pioneers and Newcomers
- Stories of Success Beyond the Marketplace: From Experimentation Towards Cross-Border Entrepreneurship
- Conclusion
- 5 “No Matter What, We’ll Find a Way”
- Uncertain (Chinese?) Futures
- Uncertainty, Resilience, and the Shadow of the BRI
- Contextualizing Local Engagement with China-Induced Changes
- Dreaming the “Chinese Dream” in Northern Laos
- Marketplaces in Luang Namtha: Material, Discursive, and Social Sites of Chinese Infrastructure and Modernity
- Conclusion
- Conclusion: Large Insights from Smallness
- Entering and Exploring Transnational Worlds through Smallness
- “Small” Productions of Transnational Connectivity
- Bibliography
- Index
- List of Maps and Illustrations
- 1 Regional overview with GMS North-South Economic Corridor
- 2 Luang Namtha Province
- 3 Signboard advertising a transvestite show at “Thailand Street” (泰国街) in Jinghong
- 4 “The Great Pagoda Temple of Jinghong” (景洪市大金塔寺) at Gao Zhuang,
Jinghong
- 5 “Vientiane Town,” a shopping centre in Jinghong
- 6 “Mekong Starlight Night Market” (湄公河星光夜市) at Gao Zhuang, Jinghong,
resembling Walking Streets in northern Thailand
- 7 Thai handicrafts sold at Gao Zhuang, Jinghong
- 8 Luang Namtha traders’ stalls at the “GMS Six Countries Trade Fair in
Xishuangbanna 2015” in Jinghong
- 9 Luang Namtha traders staying in tents behind their stalls at a trade fair inJinghong during Chinese New Year, January/February 2017
- 10 Cross-border routes of Luang Namtha traders attending Chinese trade fairs
- 11 “Tai Lue Cultural Centre” on the premises of Ban Sri Donchai temple
- 12 Transnational Thai fruit flows radiating out of Ban Huay Meng
- 13 At the village port of Ban Huay Meng
- 14 Trucks queueing up at Khonekeo Port
- 15 Open fresh market area, Muang Sing market
- 16 Small shop selling Thai and Chinese commodities at the edge of the freshmarket area, Muang Sing market
- 17 Breakfast routine at khao soi stalls, Luang Namtha market
- 18 Construction of the China-Laos Railway near Nateuy , Luang Namtha province
- 19 New Chinese-funded marketplace in Nateuy, Luang Namtha province
- 20 New conviviality: joint Chinese-Lao BBQ bar in Nateuy, Luang Namtha province
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