Frontier Livelihoods: Hmong in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands - Frontier Livelihoods

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Do ethnic minorities have the power to alter the course of their fortune when living within a socialist state? In 'Frontier Livelihoods', the authors focus their study on the Hmong - known in China as the Miao - in the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands, contending that individuals and households create livelihoods about which governments often know little. Commendation Quotes: A highly readable and informative account of local economies under pressure from both market and state forces. This is a wonderful record of the realities of everyday decision-making among an ethnic minority in the borderlands between two socialist nation-states, presenting the full complexity of social and cultural contexts in which livelihood decisions are taken. It shows a diversity of indigenous responses to modernization, and will shed new light on our understandings of the workings of local agency at the margins of power and domination. Commendation Quotes: "Frontier Livelihoods" is one of the first books to systematically analyze the recent history of the same ethnic group in Vietnam and China. It is particularly valuable because it explores reactions to different policies with respect to 'development' in minority communities on both sides of the border. In addition, the analyses of commodities, from alcohol to buffaloes to cardamom, makes for fascinating reading. Biographical Note: Sarah Turner is professor of geography at McGill University. She is the author of "Indonesia's Small Entrepreneurs: Trading on the Margins" and editor of "Red Stamps and Gold Stars: Fieldwork Dilemmas in Upland Socialist Asia." Christine Bonnin is lecturer in geography at University College Dublin. Jean Michaud is professor of social anthropology at Universite Laval. He is the author of "The A to Z of the People of the Southeast Asian Massif" and coeditor of "Moving Mountains: Ethnicity and Livelihoods in Highland China, Vietnam, and Laos." Contributor Bio:  Turner, Sarah Sarah E. Turner is Senior Lecturer of English at the University of Vermont. Contributor Bio:  Michaud, Jean Michaud is associate researcher in Asian studies at Universite de Montreal.