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Inter-area/Border Crossing
Organized Panel Session
This panel examines transnational trade, colonial rivalries, and the making of borders in the Sino-Burmese borderlands from the late nineteenth century until 1950. It characterizes state border-making as a multidirectional process influenced by the interactions between state agents, colonial officials, and local actors (chieftains, merchants, bandits) in a contested transnational space. By discussing the peculiarities of an understudied cross-border space, this panel widens the scope of inquiry on colonialism and modern nation-building in East and Southeast Asia. The papers address two key questions: How did the “stateless” territories and ethnically diverse peoples along the Sino-Burmese borderlands become part of colonial empires and modern nation-states? How did engagement with the state empower the indigenous population and reshape cross-border commerce, political institutions, and collective identities? Frances O’Morchoe examines how resource extraction in the mineral-rich Wa and Lahu areas molded the relationship between the borderland inhabitants and central states. Diana Duan addresses wealth accumulation and cross-border trade networks in the Yunnan borderlands. Eric Vanden Bussche discusses the establishment of a hybrid Sino-British legal system to curb cross-border crime and ascribe colonial and national identities to the indigenous peoples. Andres Rodriguez explores the impact of constitutional blueprints in China and Burma on state border-making policies and their implementation at the local level during the late 1940s.
Diana Zhidan Duan
Brigham Young University
Eric Vanden Bussche
Sam Houston State University
Jianxiong Ma
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Frances O'Morchoe
Oxford University, United Kingdom
Diana Zhidan Duan
Brigham Young University
Eric Vanden Bussche
Sam Houston State University
Andres Rodriguez
University of Sydney, Australia
Jianxiong Ma
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong