Wastelands & Wonderlands: Crititques of Development in Southeast Asia

Wastelands & Wonderlands
Critiques of Development in Southeast Asia
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
CHASS Interdisciplinary South (INTS) 1111 Round Lab

From Vietnam’s market reforms in 1986 to Myanmar’s democratic reforms in 2012, the forests, fields and cities of Southeast Asia have hosted a wide array of development schemes. New urban centers, sprawling industrial parks, and resorts catering to local and foreign tourists rise almost instantaneously from the rubble of former slums, farms, and battlefields. “Wastelands” are disappearing in a construction boom of new “wonderlands” streching from China to India. While local populations often embrace these projects, many others have raised pointed critiques and even protested, risking violence or detention. New projects often mean displacement of indigenous groups and the urban poor, loss of public open space, and the rise of foreign interests as major economic players in cities and states. This day-long workshop features presentation and panel discussions that highlight political, cultural and environmental critiques on this latest wave of economic development in the region.

9:30-11:30 AM – Brothels, Atrocity Tourism, and Buddhist Theme Parks

Christina Firpo (Cal Poly). Prostitution in Traditional Ả Đào Music Venues of the 1930s and 1940s.

David Biggs (UC Riverside) and Ed Miller (Dartmouth College). Landscape, Counterinsurgency, and the Strange Saga of Binh Hung Village.

Justin McDaniel (University of Pennsylvania). The Architects of Buddhist Leisure.

1:00– 3:00 PM – Cities

Christina Schwenkel (UC Riverside). Eco-Socialism and Greentopia in Urban Vietnam.

Sylvia Nam (UC Riverside). Governing Property in Phnom Penh: Overregulation through Law.

Erik Harms (Yale University). “Law of the Jungle” [luật rừng] and Ho Chi Minh City’s New Urban Zones.

3:30 – 5:00 PM – Forests, Rivers & Fields

Sarah Grant (UC Riverside). “Chất lượng cao: Developing Vietnamese Coffee-scapes”

Ian Baird (University of Wisconsin). Degraded Forest, Degraded Land: Industrial Tree Plantations in Laos.

 Jane Ferguson (University of Sydney). So Much Dam Potential: The Salween River Gorge from Rebel Territory to Natural Resource.