The Art of Not Being Governed: Hill Peoples and Valley Kingdoms in Mainland Southeast Asia
For two thousand years, the peoples residing in Zomia — the mountainous region that stretches from the Central Highlands of Vietnam to northeastern India — have fled the organized state societies in the valleys. Far from being ‘remnants’ left behind by civilizing societies, they are “barbarians by choice”, peoples who have deliberately put distance between themselves and lowland, state-centers. James Scott, director of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale… …