The Art of Not Being Governed An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia

Why read it

• You will question the valley view that hill peoples are living ancestors, left behind before civilization
• You will see what Scott says people fled: slavery, conscription, taxes, forced labor, epidemics and warfare
• You will weigh a thesis that Scott himself calls controversial: that some peoples stayed stateless on purpose

Who it is for

• A reader of anthropology or Asian history who likes bold theses
• Someone who distrusts the state and wants a history of resistance
• A traveller to Vietnam, Laos, Burma or Yunnan hills

Contents

1. Preface
2. CHAPTER 1 Hills, Valleys, and States An Introduction to Zomia
3. CHAPTER 2 State Space Zones of Governance and Appropriation
4. CHAPTER 3 Concentrating Manpower and Grain Slavery and Irrigated Rice
5. CHAPTER 4 Civilization and the Unruly
6. CHAPTER 5 Keeping the State at a Distance The Peopling of the Hills
7. CHAPTER 6 State Evasion, State Prevention The Culture and Agriculture of Escape
8. CHAPTER 6½ Orality, Writing, and Texts
9. CHAPTER 7 Ethnogenesis A Radical Constructionist Case
10. CHAPTER 8 Prophets of Renewal
11. CHAPTER 9 Conclusion
12. Yale Agrarian Studies Series

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