Paper short abstract:

Contra James Scott, I argue that Highlanders in Zomia did not (always) evade states, but historically and currently connected up with states through trade, mimesis and development.

Paper long abstract:

In The art of not being governed: An anarchist history of upland southeast Asia, James Scott (2009) essentially makes the argument that 'non-state' highlanders in 'Zomia' should be viewed as those who have intentionally evaded 'state capture and state formations'(9). According to Scott, Zomia 'has been peopled for two millennia at least by wave after wave of people in retreat and flight from state cores - from invasion, slave raids, epidemics, and corvée' (242). In my research experience, however, I have hardly ever encountered any highlander who did not wish to partake in the promise of modernity, especially consumer goods. In this paper I would expand on my paper "A View from the Mountains: A critical history of Lowlander - Highlander relations in Vietnam" (2011) in which I argue that, historically, lowland states and "zomia" regions have been mutually constitutive through trade, tribute and feasts. Economic, political and ritual exchanges and connections were far more important for both uplands and lowlands than is usually acknowledged, not only in scholarship but in such phrases as "remote and backward areas". In this paper I shall explore how the desire for goods and prestige link highlanders firmly to state- and market driven development programs.