Durham E-Theses Living under the Rubber Boom: Market Integration and Agrarian Transformations in the Lao Uplands LA-ORNGPLEW, WASANA How to cite: LA-ORNGPLEW, WASANA (2012) Living under the Rubber Boom: Market Integration and Agrarian Transformations in the Lao Uplands , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6372/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Living under the Rubber Boom: Market Integration and Agrarian Transformations in the Lao Uplands One Volume Wasana La-orngplew A Thesis Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography Durham University 2012 Abstract Living under the Rubber Boom: Market Integration and Agrarian Transformations in the Lao Uplands This thesis investigates market integration and agrarian transformations in the uplands of the Lao PDR through the lens of the rubber ’boom’. The study addresses the processes and consequences of rubber expansion on upland spaces and populations. The thesis draws on fieldwork undertaken in four upland communities in Luang Namtha province in the north- western Lao PDR. The chosen study settlements are different in the levels of market and spatial integration as well as in the form that rubber investment takes. Through employing a mixed-method approach (household surveys and in-depth interviews), the study shows how various actors (market forces and market actors, the transnational and domestic states, state personnel, and uplanders themselves) and conditions (the histories of village settlement and agricultural land access, levels of market and geographical connections, and relations between uplanders and the state and state personnel) have influenced the ways in which rubber has expanded into these upland communities. The study, while recording some particularities of agrarian transformations among the four settlements, also highlights some commonalities. These similarities include: i) changes to the upland economy and land use from semi-subsistence to market-oriented production, ii) transformation of land rights and control from collective to private and quasi-private systems, and iii) increasing risks to the sustainability of upland livelihoods, especially for those who were formerly highly reliant on shifting agriculture. The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature and debates about agrarian transformations in Southeast Asia, the nature of global land grabs, the roles of different actors in shaping agrarian processes, and the evolving place of the state in a time of globalisation. Taken together, the thesis provides a better understanding on the processes of market integration in the frontiers of the ‘reforming’ Lao PDR. Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................ii Table of Contents.............................................................................................................iii List of Tables....................................................................................................................vii List of Figures...................................................................................................................ix List of Maps.......................................................................................................................x List of Pictures...................................................................................................................x List of Boxes......................................................................................................................x List of Acronyms………………...............................................................................................xi List of Lao Terms…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….xii Declaration.....................................................................................................................xiii Statement of Copyright...................................................................................................xiv Acknowledgement...........................................................................................................xv Chapter One Introduction................................................................................................17 1.1 Introduction: the significance of the rubber boom for agrarian studies...................17 1.1.1 Agrarian transformations in Southeast Asia.................................................19 1.1.2 Understanding global land grabs..................................................................20 1.1.3 Researching actors in agrarian processes....................................................22 1.1.4 Researching the state in the agrarian processes..........................................24 1.2 Research and objectives............................................................................................25 1.2.1 At an empirical level.....................................................................................25 1.2.2 At a conceptual level....................................................................................26 1.3 Sites and research methods......................................................................................27 1.4 Structure of the thesis...............................................................................................30 Chapter Two Literature review: agrarian transformations, peasants, market, and the state in an era of globalisation............................................................................32 2.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................32 2.2 Agrarian transformations..........................................................................................35 2.2.1 The paths of agrarian transition...................................................................35 2.2.2 Rural transformations and de-agrarianisation.............................................39 2.2.3 Agrarian transformations in the frontiers....................................................42 2.3 Global land grabs for farmland investment...............................................................45 2.4 The state and agrarian processes..............................................................................48 iii 2.4.1 The state’s role in a national framework.....................................................49 2.4.2 The state’s role in a globalisation framework..............................................53 2.5 Peasants, small farmers and the market...................................................................55 2.6 Summary...................................................................................................................61 Chapter Three Research methodology: principles and practices of doing research in the Lao uplands.........................................................................................................62 3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................62 3.2 Research framework…………………………………………………………………………………..………..62 3.3 Doing fieldwork in the Lao PDR.................................................................................69 3.4 Research sites: justification and practices.................................................................71 3.5 Research methodologies: plan and reality................................................................78 3.5.1 A questionnaire survey – how did it work in the Lao uplands?....................79 3.5.2 In-depth interviews......................................................................................83 3.6 Data analysis..............................................................................................................92 3.7 Positionality and ethical issues..................................................................................93 3.8 Summary..................................................................................................................99 Chapter Four The Lao PDR and its agricultural context..................................................100 4.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................100 4.2 The socialist Lao PDR: independence and development challenges (1975-1986).............................................................................................................102 4.2.1 The socialist Lao PDR: new dependencies in the independence period...........................................................................102 4.2.2 Lao agriculture: an uncompleted socialist transformation.............................................................................106