Contribution short abstract:

This contribution provides a case study of inclusion and exclusion dynamics in an ethnic Khmu setting in Laos. It documents the bottom-up enclosure of customary commons in the context of agricultural commodification and flags several conceptual issues about un/commoning arising therefrom.

Contribution long abstract:

Drawing on extended participant observation, this contribution provides an up-close, ethnographically-grounded analysis of inclusion and exclusion dynamics in an ethnic Khmu setting in northern Laos. I begin by documenting (memories of) the customary propitiation of a local hilltop and its anthropomorphic “spirit lord” as a ritual act of commoning that fostered a sense of shared custodianship and community among local Khmu. I then trace the recent dislocation of this localized, spirit-centred commons and its associated processes of commoning in the context of expanded cash crop cultivation for international (and particularly Chinese) markets. Importantly, and as I will argue, this process of uncommoning/enclosure is driven not least by local Khmu themselves, i.e. “from below”.

In so doing, this ethnographic contribution flags several conceptual issues. Firstly, it shows how desires for exclusion, contestations of uncommoning and new perceptions of common interests may engender distortingly simplifying dichotomizations of complex realities. Secondly, it challenges the widespread (and often implicit) assumption that “indigenous peoples” (a spurious and politically sensitive trope in Laos) have an intrinsic interest and sense of obligation in preserving their customary commons/commons imaginary and associated processes of commoning. Finally, this contribution speaks to questions of dis/re-enchantment and resourcification, bringing debates on “spirited” Southeast Asian modernity into conversation with claims regarding the more-than-human-cum-“ontological” dimensions of un/commoning.