Becoming Ungovernable Beyond the State: Hill Peoples, Decentralized Resistance, and Buddhist Nationalism in Southeast Asia  

Speaker: David Thang Moe, Research Scholar in Southeast Asian Studies, Yale University

Moderator: Tyler Giannini, Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. 

Abstract: Why does the central state, shaped by Buddhist nationalism, become an enemy of ethnic and religious minorities in Highland Southeast Asia—a region known as Zomia, as described by James Scott and others? In what ways do decentralized resistance movements and interreligious solidarity across Southeast Asia’s Christian hill villages and Buddhist valley kingdoms—particularly in Myanmar, its borderlands, and diasporic communities—challenge the military power of the state? And how might these ungovernable peoples beyond the state in highlands govern local communities amid ongoing civil war, while reimagining a new form of nation-building that moves beyond Buddhist nationalism, Burmanization, and military rule?   

Drawing on firsthand experience, his current research, and his forthcoming monograph, Beyond Buddhist Nationalism (Oxford University Press), the speaker will examine the politics of civil war, Buddhist nationalism, ethnic conflict, everyday decentralized resistance, efforts toward ethnic reconciliation, and emerging visions for a democratic and inclusive future of nationhood.