Decolonial Endurance: Indigenous World Making on the China-Myanmar Border

Dear all,

You are cordially invited to the next session of the FASS Brown Bag Seminar Series in Semester 2 of AY23/24. Dr Lau Ting Hui (NUS Sociology and Anthropology) will be presenting on “Decolonial Endurance: Indigenous World Making on the China-Myanmar Border”.

Date: 7 March, 12 – 1pm
Venue: Online via Zoom
Register: Zoom

Decolonial Endurance: Indigenous World Making on the China-Myanmar Border
Like many countries in Asia, China does not recognize the existence of Indigenous people within its borders, insisting instead on the category of ethnic minority. This denial of Indigeneity forecloses discussions about Chinese colonialism and limits transnational solidarity with Indigenous communities elsewhere. Pushing back against state-sponsored discourses, I propose understanding so-called ethnic minority people in China as Indigenous to connect their experiences to broader questions of colonialism and Indigenous dispossession. I focus my analysis on Indigenous Lisu subsistence farmers on the China-Myanmar border and their experiences of Chinese development. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I argue that Lisu experience Chinese development as colonialism. Through storytelling, care, play, and prayer, Lisu practice decolonial world making that enables them to endure colonial erasure by sustaining relationships with the land, refusing assimilation, and proposing alternative futures. This paper contributes to discussions about Indigeneity in Asia and decolonial endurance in Asia and beyond.

Assistant Professor Lau Ting Hui is a sociocultural anthropologist in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in the National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on mental health, development, and Indigeneity in Asia. Her book in progress is titled Decolonial Endurance: Indigenous World Making on the China-Myanmar Border.

If you have any queries, please email fassresearchevents@nus.edu.sg. We look forward to your attendance.