The Lisu

The Lisu PDF Author: Michele Zack
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 160732606X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
This book brings the ironic worldview of the Lisu to life through vivid, often amusing accounts of individuals, communities, regions, and practices. One of the smallest and last groups of stateless people, and the most egalitarian of all Southeast Asian highland minorities, the Lisu have not only survived extremes at the crossroads of civil wars, the drug trade, and state-sponsored oppression but adapted to modern politics and technology without losing their identity. The Lisu weaves a lively narrative that condenses humanity’s transition from border-free tribal groupings into today’s nation-states and global market economy. Journalist and historian Michele Zack first encountered the Lisu in the 1980s and conducted research and fieldwork among them in the 1990s. In 2014 she again traveled extensively in tribal areas of Thailand, Myanmar, and China, when she documented the transformative changes of globalization. Some Lisu have adopted successful new urban occupations in business and politics, while most continue to live as agriculturists “far from the ruler.” The cohesiveness of Lisu culture has always been mysterious—they reject hierarchical political organization and traditionally had no writing system—yet their culture provides a particular skillset that has helped them navigate the terrain of the different religious and political systems they have recently joined. They’ve made the transition from living in lawless, self-governing highland peripheries to becoming residents and citizens of nation-states in a single generation. Ambitious and written with journalist’s eye for detail and storytelling, The Lisu introduces the unique and fascinating culture of this small Southeast Asian minority. Their path to national and global citizenship illustrates the trade-offs all modern people have made, and their egalitarian culture provides insight into current political choices in a world turning toward authoritarianism.

The Lisu

The Lisu PDF Author: Michele Zack
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 160732606X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book brings the ironic worldview of the Lisu to life through vivid, often amusing accounts of individuals, communities, regions, and practices. One of the smallest and last groups of stateless people, and the most egalitarian of all Southeast Asian highland minorities, the Lisu have not only survived extremes at the crossroads of civil wars, the drug trade, and state-sponsored oppression but adapted to modern politics and technology without losing their identity. The Lisu weaves a lively narrative that condenses humanity’s transition from border-free tribal groupings into today’s nation-states and global market economy. Journalist and historian Michele Zack first encountered the Lisu in the 1980s and conducted research and fieldwork among them in the 1990s. In 2014 she again traveled extensively in tribal areas of Thailand, Myanmar, and China, when she documented the transformative changes of globalization. Some Lisu have adopted successful new urban occupations in business and politics, while most continue to live as agriculturists “far from the ruler.” The cohesiveness of Lisu culture has always been mysterious—they reject hierarchical political organization and traditionally had no writing system—yet their culture provides a particular skillset that has helped them navigate the terrain of the different religious and political systems they have recently joined. They’ve made the transition from living in lawless, self-governing highland peripheries to becoming residents and citizens of nation-states in a single generation. Ambitious and written with journalist’s eye for detail and storytelling, The Lisu introduces the unique and fascinating culture of this small Southeast Asian minority. Their path to national and global citizenship illustrates the trade-offs all modern people have made, and their egalitarian culture provides insight into current political choices in a world turning toward authoritarianism.

Songs of the Lisu Hills

Songs of the Lisu Hills PDF Author: Aminta Arrington
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271085843
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
The story of how the Lisu of southwest China were evangelized one hundred years ago by the China Inland Mission is a familiar one in mission circles. The subsequent history of the Lisu church, however, is much less well known. Songs of the Lisu Hills brings this history up to date, recounting the unlikely story of how the Lisu maintained their faith through twenty-two years of government persecution and illuminating how Lisu Christians transformed the text-based religion brought by the missionaries into a faith centered around an embodied set of Christian practices. Based on ethnographic fieldwork as well as archival research, this volume documents the development of Lisu Christianity, both through larger social forces and through the stories of individual believers. It explores how the Lisu, most of whom remain subsistence farmers, have oriented their faith less around cognitive notions of belief and more around participation in a rhythm of shared Christian practices, such as line dancing, attending church and festivals, evangelizing, working in one another’s fields, and singing translated Western hymns. These embodied practices demonstrate how Christianity developed in the mountainous margins of the world’s largest atheist state. A much-needed expansion of the Lisu story into a complex study of the evolution of a world Christian community, this book will appeal to scholars working at the intersections of World Christianity, anthropology of religion, ethnography, Chinese Christianity, and mission studies.

Emerging Sexual Inequality Among the Lisu of Northern Thailand

Emerging Sexual Inequality Among the Lisu of Northern Thailand PDF Author: Otome Klein Hutheesing
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004090491
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The Lisu people, whose lives have been recorded in this publication, are predominantly women of a mountain community in northern Thailand. Along with their men, they have been growing poppies for opium for over a century, the sales of which have been sustained their non-authoritarian society and its implied repute ideology. While living with them for several years, the author observed how newly introduced substitute crops involving a change in production and trade relations had upset the previously egalitarian basis of female and male worth, as exemplified in the metaphor of elephant and dog. The modified gender system in which the Lisu female has become an underdog is described against the backdrop of conventional ideas regarding the cosmic forces, the division of labour, bridewealth and marriage.

Handbook of the Lisu (Yawyin) Language

Handbook of the Lisu (Yawyin) Language PDF Author: James Outram Fraser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lisu language
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description


Profile of a Little-known Tribe

Profile of a Little-known Tribe PDF Author: Asim Maitra
Publisher: Mittal Publications
ISBN: 9788170994817
Category : Arunāchal Pradesh (India)
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description


Isobel Kuhn

Isobel Kuhn PDF Author: Lois Hoadley Dick
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Bethany House Publishers
ISBN: 9780871239761
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
An inspiring account of the Canadian girl who felt God's call to the Lisu people of China. A Women of Faith biography.

Chasing the Chinese Dream

Chasing the Chinese Dream PDF Author: William N. Brown
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811606544
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This open access book explores the historical, cultural and philosophical contexts that have made anti-poverty the core of Chinese society since Liberation in 1949, and why poverty alleviation measures evolved from the simplistic aid of the 1950s to Xi Jinping’s precision poverty alleviation and its goal of eliminating absolute poverty by 2020. The book also addresses the implications of China’s experience for other developing nations tackling not only poverty but such issues as pandemics, rampant urbanization and desertification exacerbated by global warming. The first of three parts draws upon interviews of rural and urban Chinese from diverse backgrounds and local and national leaders. These interviews, conducted in even the remotest areas of the country, offer candid insights into the challenges that have forced China to continually evolve its programs to resolve even the most intractable cases of poverty. The second part explores the historic, cultural and philosophical roots of old China’s meritocratic government and how its ancient Chinese ethics have led to modern Chinese socialism’s stance that “poverty amidst plenty is immoral”. Dr. Huang Chengwei, one of China’s foremost anti-poverty experts, explains the challenges faced at each stage as China’s anti-poverty measures evolved over 70 years to emphasize “enablement” over “aid” and to foster bottom-up initiative and entrepreneurialism, culminating in Xi Jinping’s precision poverty alleviation. The book also addresses why national economic development alone cannot reduce poverty; poverty alleviation programs must be people-centered, with measurable and accountable practices that reach even to household level, which China has done with its “First Secretary” program. The third part explores the potential for adopting China’s practices in other nations, including the potential for replicating China’s successes in developing countries through such measures as the Belt and Road Initiative. This book also addresses prevalent misperceptions about China’s growing global presence and why other developing nations must address historic, systemic causes of poverty and inequity before they can undertake sustainable poverty alleviation measures of their own.

An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China

An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China PDF Author: James S. Olson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1567508774
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Since Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms began in the early 1980s, the People's Republic of China has rejoined global politics as a world power. The country is likely to become more open and its internal politics will no doubt affect the rest of the world. With more than 1.2 billion people divided into hundreds of ethnic groups, all dominated by the Han people, China's politics and its foreign policy are bound to be affected by ethnicity and ethnic rivalry. This book is designed to give librarians, students, scholars, and educated readers a ready reference for background information of interpreting ethnic events in China. Generally defining ethnicity in terms of language, this book provides individual essays on hundreds of Chinese ethnic groups, including ethnic groups living in the Republic of China on Taiwan. The book also includes a chronology, bibliography, and a breakdown of the People's Republic of China's ethnic political subdivisions.

China's New Socialist Countryside

China's New Socialist Countryside PDF Author: Russell Harwood
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804785
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this case study examines the impact of economic development on ethnic minority people living along the upper-middle reaches of the Nu (Salween) River in Yunnan. In this highly mountainous, sparsely populated area live the Lisu, Nu, and Dulong (Drung) people, who until recently lived as subsistence farmers, relying on shifting cultivation, hunting, the collection of medicinal plants from surrounding forests, and small-scale logging to sustain their household economies. China's New Socialist Countryside explores how compulsory education, conservation programs, migration for work, and the expansion of social and economic infrastructure are not only transforming livelihoods, but also intensifying the Chinese Party-state’s capacity to integrate ethnic minorities into its political fabric and the national industrial economy.

Beyond Fair Trade

Beyond Fair Trade PDF Author: Mark Pendergrast
Publisher: Greystone Books Ltd
ISBN: 1771640472
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
"What does compassionate capitalism look like? Mark Pendergrast shows us in this enlightening story of tribal life, opium, missionaries, market trends, a Thai antiques dealer, a mining entrepreneur and coffee." Abigail Carroll, author of Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal The Akha hill tribe of Thailand has a long, tumultuous history. Politics, economics, violence, prejudice, and deforestation consistently worked against the Akha's desire to move away from their dependency on opium production and create a stable future for their children. That all changed in 2006 when prominent businessman John Darch met entrepreneur Wicha Promyong. Their meeting resulted in the establishment of an equal partnership business venture that goes beyond Fair Trade: the Doi Chaang Coffee Company. Beyond Fair Trade tells the story of the growth of this unique partnership, its successes and challenges, and the people behind it.