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Paper short abstract

What does it mean to live at the end of the world? What does the end of the world mean? For Blang communities, the next Buddha will usher in a new world of perfect equality. Blang societies were born out of their worlds ending, but are also prefigurations of their own futures.

Paper long abstract

For Blang people, living in the uplands of the China-Myanmar border, the end of the world is a joyous event. When the next Buddha arrives “everything will be as flat as this board,” there will be no rich or poor, no mountains or valleys, everyone will be equally tall and beautiful. Our era of inequality will come to an end and the world will be swept clean. In some ways, Blang communities are themselves prefigurations of their own end times. They were born from conquest, epidemics, and state violence. Surviving the end of their worlds, Blang communities escaped the lowlands and established communities, self-governed through direct consensus democracy, with communal land allotment, and mutual aid. Blang communities are not utopias, but forms of social organisation considered utopian in our societies are commonplace in theirs. Blang ends of worlds are radically different from out own. This highlights the need for a comparative approach: what does the end of the world mean? How do people live before, in, and after the end of the world?