Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
“Nong,” the name given to the river by the local Lisu ethnic group (Mertha 2008). But
it is also meant to convey a sense of the turbulent nature of the river, an apt metaphor
for the controversy surrounding the proposed dam-development project. A thirteen-dam
hydropower-development plan is currently under way, with a total hydropower potential of
21,000 megawatts, which is slightly more than the mammoth Three Gorges Dam. Should
all thirteen dams in the cascade be built, the best estimates suggest that more than 50,000
people will be displaced. As subsequent chapters demonstrate, the Nu River dam projects
have spurred domestic activism as well as highly public international criticism from con-
servation organizations. Development plans have been started, stalled, and restarted nearly
half a dozen times over the past decade.
RESEARCH METHODS AND “THE FIELD”
For a researcher like me, an anthropologist with a track record of working on rural de-
velopment issues, “the field” is usually conceptualized as someplace far-flung or exotic.
This is the common supposition about what it means to conduct anthropological fieldwork,
and it has shaped my discipline in very powerful ways. Fieldwork in Yunnan over the
years—particularly in places involving tedious and uncomfortable travel—has certainly fit
that bill. Material for this topic was collected during field visits in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,
2012, and 2013 involving both personal and collaborative research through interviews and
household surveys with villagers whose lives are being upended by the dam projects on the
Lancang and Nu Rivers.
But this particular research project is substantially different from what I have become
accustomed to over the years. Rather than spend a long period of residence in a single com-
munity—a method of inquiry that anthropologists call “participant observation”—I col-
laborated with other scientists to collect survey data from more than 1,200 households in
dozens of villages across these two watersheds. This approach is indicative of a broader
trend in anthropology and related disciplines toward holism and cross-disciplinary collab-
oration that effectively reenvisions what it means to go into “the field” (Gupta and Fer-
guson 1997).
Furthermore, my research in rural villages constitutes only part of the story of this topic.
IalsospentsixmonthsinBeijingasaFulbrightscholarin2012,anopportunitythatopened
many doors to better understand how management decisions about water resources are
made at high institutional levels. My scholarly insights in this area have as much to do with
serendipity as with careful planning. While I was preparing for research in 2012, forces
beyond my control caused one delay after another in my affiliating with an institution and
securing the right type of travel visa; these delays ultimately convinced me to affiliate with
colleagues in Beijing and to alter my project accordingly.
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