BRI as cognitive empire

Epistemic violence, ethnonationalism and alternative imaginaries in Zomian highlands

Bibliographic Data

ID20154181
AuthorsKathryn Sims (0000-0003-1874-4932, College of Arts, Society and Education James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume43
Issue3
Pages309-324
Publication date2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSingapore Journal of Tropical Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0129-7619 • E-ISSN: 1467-9493
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/sjtg.12435
OpenAlexW4220805170
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited49

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become the lodestar of Beijing's efforts to increase its global political and economic influence. This article interrogates BRI discourse, arguing that the normative adoption of BRI narratives as a means for making sense of connectivities between China and other places risks producing new forms of epistemic violence against subaltern populations. The empirical focus of this paper is on China‐Laos relations, and the epistemic positioning of highland ethnic minority groups in northern Laos. This context offers a valuable case study for examining BRI discourse due to: (a) the profound effects of Chinese investment in Laos; (b) the geostrategic importance of Laos as a BRI ‘gateway’ between China and Southeast Asia; (c) the deep histories of ethnic minority engagements across China and Laos; and (d) the limited extant research on both China‐Laos relations and the more localized effects of Chinese actors within the highland border regions

Archaeology · Beijing · China · Context (archaeology) · Ethnic group · Geography · Narrative · Normative · Political science · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Gender Studies · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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