Paper short abstract:

This study explores the local dynamics and impacts of a Chinese Hydropower Project under the Belt and Road Initiative in Laos. In particular, I analyze how the forced relocation has restructured the resettled villagers' everyday experiences and views; connection to nature; and survival strategies.

Paper long abstract:

Since the Chinese government adopted the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, there has been growing interest in studying the global dynamics of China's mega-infrastructure projects and its controversies among social scientists. However, there has been a dearth of ethnographic research studying local communities affected by these projects. Specifically in Laos, this is primarily due to the secretive nature of Chinese projects and the Lao state. This research thus aims to examine how the Nam Tha 1 Hydropower (NTha1 Project)—a Chinese dam under the BRI—has restructured the rural riparian villagers' lives due to forced relocation and promises of progress. Based on my 14-month ethnographic fieldwork between 2018-2019 in the Hardmoauk resettlement, Bokeo Province, Laos, I will analyze how new infrastructures—e.g., electricity, road, and internet—in the resettlement have altered the resettled villagers' everyday experiences of development, social relations, and views of modern-rural life. I argue that the forced relocation does not only connect the resettled villagers to modernity, but also disconnect them to former sources of income, nature, and worship places and ancestral graves in old villages. I will also present stories how the disconnection to nature of some resettled villagers, particularly the ethnic Khmu and Lamed people, has changed not only their livelihood, but also their practices of reciprocity and redistribution. Moreover, I will investigate how the NTha1's inadequate compensations have resulted in the villagers' further impoverishment and disillusionment. Beyond understanding the local dynamics of a BRI project, this research thus also assesses the NTha1's progress of promises.