What makes “ethnic minority”? Border People in-between China and Southeast Asia

Panel Convenor(s)

• SH

  Sinae Hyun

  Institute for East Asian Studies, Sogang University, Republic of Korea

Panel Chair(s)

• SH

  Sinae Hyun

  Institute for East Asian Studies, Sogang University, Republic of Korea

Presenter(s)

• JM

  Jianxiong Ma

  Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
• MJ

  Myeon Jeong

  Sogang University, Republic of Korea
• TK

  Tatsuki Kataoka

  Kyoto University, Japan
• AS

  Aranya Siriphon

  Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Who are the ethnic minorities? What are the criteria to determine a group to belong to the minority or majority? And from when the designation of “ethnic minority” began? The emergence of the nation-states after the Second World War was a key turning point that led to creating and/or reinvigorating the notion of “ethnic minority” between the old empires and new nation-states in Asia. Notably, many historical accounts written by the newly emerged nation-states have conveniently premised that the ethnic minority existed long before, inevitably legitimizing a kind of hierarchy between majority and minority. More importantly, the ethnic minority that failed to build their own nation-states have been depoliticized as if they had never possessed political ideas or systems.

This panel aims to identify the convergence of the local and global knowledge and conditions for making a community “ethnic minority.” The case studies are focused on the people in the borderlands between China and Southeast Asia, where the place of birth affects categorizing ethnicity rather than the physical look in the Western sense of race. By examining how local knowledge served as a determining factor for designating the ethnic minority and how Western influence on modernization has affected the definition and characteristics of ethnic minorities, the four presentations will delve into the process of categorizing and depoliticizing ethnic minorities. Building upon the case studies, the panel will critically assess the contemporary research of ethnic minorities and how they have further contributed to justifying the raison d'être of nation-states. 

Ma’s paper traces the historical background of the Chinese government’s tax policies to the highland dwellers in the Bazi basins in Yunnan to examine how proactively the latter group engaged in imperial governance to defend their economic stability and political identity. Jeong’s paper investigates the historical records of the Bai people in Dali to show the discrepant aims of writing history by the state and its impacts on the Bai people’s identity formation. Kataoka’s paper looks at the church history of the Lahu people focusing on the millenarian mass conversion movements and how it has influenced their restyling of ethnic history and identity. Siriphon’s paper focuses on the Thai government’s promotion of ethnic entrepreneurship in northern Thailand. It led to economic achievements but not the dissolution of tensions between the two which is mainly derived from the continuing ethnic discrimination and depoliticization efforts by the government.

Presentations:

• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  The State Policy of Farming Land Taxes and the Social Integration of Bazi Basin Society in Yunnan in the 18th century
  

  Presenter: Jianxiong Ma – Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Who created the 'Bai people'?: Records of the Bai people and Bo-ren on the Epitaphs in the Dali region during the Ming-Qing Period
  

  Presenter: Myeon Jeong – Sogang University
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  The Making of an "Ethnic Millenarian Movement": Narratives of the Lahu Church History on the Early Mass Conversion
  

  Presenter: Tatsuki Kataoka – Kyoto University
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Entrepreneurial Journey: "Panacea" Vision and Depoliticization of Ethnic Minorities in Northern Thailand
  

  Presenter: Aranya Siriphon – Chiang Mai University