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The mystery of ZomiaIn the lawless mountain realms of Asia, a
Yale professor finds a case againstcivilization
By Drake BennettDecember 6, 2009
What the inhabitants of Zomia, in all their diversity,
broadly show, he argues, is that
given sanctuary by geography, people can prove as eager to
reject the basic tenets of civilization as to
embrace them, and that the communities that result aren’t
necessarily caldrons of savagery and
chaos.
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“I would be tickled pink if people wanted to work this out
and
say where it fit and where it didn’t fit,” he says, not only in
Southeast Asia, but all over the world.
In history and political science, much recent scholarship has
sought out new vantage points from
which to see modern society and its roots - looking at
politics from the point of view of the
disenfranchised, for example, rather than generals and political
leaders. But what Scott is doing is
something more radical. He’s arguing that we need to look past
our notion that civilization itself
represents a desirable goal, and realize that for centuries,
people living in a huge part of the world
took a look at what civilized society had to offer and
passed.
“If I had my way,” he says, “you’d never think about
civilization in the same way again.”
Scott is not suggesting that we chuck society and head for the
hills. He believes there’s much that the
modern welfare state offers that makes our lives demonstrably
better. Asked whether he considers
himself an anarchist, he says it’s something he hasn’t entirely
figured out - his next book will be a
collection of essays on the question.
Still, for the majority of the world’s inhabitants who will
never know life outside of a large organized
state, it’s important to keep in mind, he says, that there’s
nothing inherently natural about the way
the modern state emerged or the shape it took. And it’s not just
starry-eyed hippies and kibbutzim who have asserted
otherwise.
Nor are national boundaries always the most helpful way of
framing the world. Zomia offers a fresh
and, Scott would argue, more logical way of looking at much of
Asia - a part of the world that,
despite its importance on the global stage, remains politically
and culturally opaque to many in the
West. The seeming lawlessness along the borders of
Southeast Asia, the restiveness in Tibet and
other Chinese provinces aren’t isolated disturbances, he
suggests, but rather part of the larger,
centuries-long clash between Zomia and its many neighbors.
And through that contentious history, Zomia has exerted
its own influence. Scott asks whether we
can fully comprehend China’s magnificent cultural history or its
patriarchal Confucian traditions without an understanding of
the highland “barbarians” long at its borders, doggedly refusing
the
blandishments of civilization. Just as the
anti-authoritarianism of the Hmong and the Wa only
makes sense in the context of their long struggle with lowland
power, so it is hard to understand the
Asian giants of today without acknowledging the fugitive
spirit of Zomia lurking in their hills.
Drake Bennett is the staff writer for Ideas. E-mail
[email protected].
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
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