The Ethno-Narcotic Politics of the Shan People

Fighting with Drugs, Fighting for the Nation on the Thai–Burmese Border

Thitiwut Boonyawongwiwat

This book proposes the alternative explanation on the pattern of ethnic conflict, especially the on-going civil war in Myanmar. Previously, most scholars accepted that narcotics play the crucial role in conflict as the resource of revenues. However, this book dramatically changes what we have ever thought before. It investigated in both field and documentary research by examining the role of narcotics in the ideological formation process and ethnic identification process. Consequently, the so-called ethno-narcotic politics was found in the way that the role of narcotics was able to be used as the source of political mobilization in various ways. Furthermore, the borderland is the appropriated area where the process of anti-ethno-narcotics identification could be emerged and later used as the main identity for the ethnic groups who remain fighting against state’s power.

Lexington Books

Pages: 186 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-2016-4 • Hardback • November 2017 • $100.00 • (£77.00)

978-1-4985-2017-1 • eBook • November 2017 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, History / Asia / Southeast Asia, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General, Political Science / World / Asian

The Ethno-Narcotic Politics of the Shan People

Fighting with Drugs, Fighting for the Nation on the Thai–Burmese Border

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This book proposes the alternative explanation on the pattern of ethnic conflict, especially the on-going civil war in Myanmar. Previously, most scholars accepted that narcotics play the crucial role in conflict as the resource of revenues. However, this book dramatically changes what we have ever thought before. It investigated in both field and documentary research by examining the role of narcotics in the ideological formation process and ethnic identification process. Consequently, the so-called ethno-narcotic politics was found in the way that the role of narcotics was able to be used as the source of political mobilization in various ways. Furthermore, the borderland is the appropriated area where the process of anti-ethno-narcotics identification could be emerged and later used as the main identity for the ethnic groups who remain fighting against state’s power.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 186 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-2016-4 • Hardback • November 2017 • $100.00 • (£77.00)

978-1-4985-2017-1 • eBook • November 2017 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural, History / Asia / Southeast Asia, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General, Political Science / World / Asian

Author

Thitiwut Boonyawongwiwat is lecturer at Chiang Mai University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Why (Anti-) Ethno-Narcotic Politics?
Chapter 2: The Shan People in the Unfinished Civil War
Chapter 3: The Anti-Narcotic Ideology of the Thai State on the Thai–Burmese Border
Chapter 4: The Anti-Ethno-Narcotic Nationalism in Ethnic Conflict
Chapter 5: Ethnic Identity and Community: Hin Taek Village as the Site of Reconstruction of Shan Identity
Conclusion: Trajectories of Anti-Ethno-Narcotic Politicization