Are the Central Himalayas in Zomia? Some scholarly and political considerations across time and space

Abstract

This article examines the applicability of the Zomia concept for social scientific studies of the Himalayan region, with a focus on the Central Himalayas. While for both empirical and political reasons the term Zomia itself may not be entirely appropriate to the Himalayan Massif, the analytical imperatives that underlie James C. Scott's usage of it -particularly the emphasis on the ethnic, national, and religious fluidity of highland communities, and their intentionality and agency vis-à-vis the states with which they engage -can be of great utility to those working in the Himalayan region. Through a historical review of the area tradition of 'Himalayan studies', as well as an ethnographic sketch of the cross-border Thangmi community of Nepal, India, and China's Tibetan Autonomous Region, I argue that the potential power of the Zomia concept hinges on its ability to provide an additional framework for analysis (and perhaps political struggle), that adds value to, rather than replaces, 'traditional' nation-state rubrics.

In-between Poppy and Rubber Fields

“…This volume initiates a revisioning of Himalayan studies in the form of a trans-Himalayan study, acknowledging the ecogeological contiguity of the great Himalayas, emphasizing the ethnohistorical integrity and/or connectivity of what we now refer to as frontiers, borderland communities, and transborder livelihoods, and, finally, studying the inherent convertibility of the cultures, empires, civilizations, and modern states to the formation of the current geopolitical cartographies and borderlands of the greater Himalayas. This proposed revisioning of Himalayan studies coincides with the ongoing trend among scholars who call for the studies of world regions (Van Schendel 2002), reconceiving the Himalayas as an integral whole that is reshaped as 'a multiple-state space' (Shneiderman 2010), and rejoins the highlands of Southeast Asia and Southwest China with the central Himalayas as a greater Himalayan region (Van Schendel 2002;Michaud 2010). In this regard, this revisioning is premised upon High Asia, in general, as a continuous zone rather than as disconnected spaces at the peripheries of individual nation-states (Bergmann 2016: 90;Van Schendel 2002).…”

“…First, an inclusive, processual geography of the greater Himalayas is in practice. It factors in the human and natural moving matters, for example, imperial encounters, trade, religion, and water, which signify multiple complex local, regional, and global nexuses (Michaud 2010;Shneiderman 2010;Smyer Yü 2015;Turner, Bonnin, and Michaud 2015;Samuel 2005;Cederlöf 2014;Drew 2014a). Second, it is becoming clearer that transborder livelihood changes in the region are mostly consequences of the modern nation-states' territorial endeavor to harden their physical borderlines and of their differentially implemented cross-border modernization programs (Shneiderman 2015b;Michaud and Turner 2016;Horstmann 2014;Turner and Pham 2015).…”

Regionalism, mobility, and “the village” as a set of social relations: Himalayan reflections on a South Asian theme

“…Here I explore how the village has been conceptualized in the Himalayan ethnographic contexts that lie largely within, yet are not fully encompassed by, the geographical label of ''South Asia,'' nor the scholarly one of ''South Asian Studies.'' As I have argued elsewhere (Shneiderman 2010), the ''Himalaya'' rubric itself is a complicated one, which has often served to de-emphasize distinct national political histories in favor of broad regional paradigms for asserting cultural, linguistic, and religious commonality. But like ''the village,'' ''the Himalaya'' offers prospects for productive refiguring within new, more regionally expansive yet ethnographically grounded analytical frameworks.…”

Himalayan Highways: STS, the Spatial Fix, and Socio-Cultural Shifts in the Land of Zomia

“…As a point of departure, "Zomia-thinking" situates the Trans-Himalaya as a space marked by unique identities and patterns of mobility that are increasingly affected by regional geopolitical and economic transitions (Michaud 2010;Schendel 2002;Shneiderman 2010). More specifically, "Zomia-thinking" contextualizes the Trans-Himalaya region as a contiguous space into which China and India have made recent political, economic, and infrastructural inroads.…”