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The Contention between Han “Civilizers” and Yi “Civilizees” over Environmental Governance: A Case Study of Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

Thomas Heberer
Thomas Heberer*
Affiliation:
School of Public Management, Zhejiang University, and Institute of East Asian Studies, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

During field research on environmental governance in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in 2012, the author studied the Chinese state's efforts to promote its agenda and “civilizing mission,” the resistance of local Yi people to both, and the resulting clash of discourses on environmental protection. To understand the nature and mechanisms involved in this conflict, the author focuses on the state's “civilizing mission” in light of Foucault's power concept. The article examines two issues: 1) the strategies by which the central state exerts power and asserts its policies in a minority area, i.e. how it attempts to steer the behaviour of local cadres in order to implement its modernization concept, and 2) whether and to what degree it makes a difference that the researched area is a “minority” (Yi) area. To answer these questions, one county in the prefecture was taken as a case study. Furthermore, this article continuously refers to the policy field of environmental governance to substantiate the thesis of a civilizing project conducted by the centre.

摘要

在 2012 年的凉山彝族自治州环境治理领域的研究中，笔者对以下方面做了研究: 1）政府致力推动其议程以及完成其 “文明化使命”，2）当地彝族人民对此做出相对的反应，3）关于在环境保护问题上产生对话的不同的意识。为了了解这个矛盾的本质及其运行机制，笔者从福柯 (Michel Foucault) 的权力概念的角度出发着重对政府的 “文明化使命” 进行了分析。本文将探讨两个问题：1）国家 (state) 如何施加权力并坚持其主张的战略，鉴于，如何在少数民族地区试图引导当地干部的行为，以执行其现代化政策的设想，2）所研究的区域是一个 “少数民族”（彝族）地区，是否以及在多大程度上与其他非少数地区有所差别。为了回答这些问题，本文以一个辖自治州的县作为个例研究。此外，本文还将不断提及环境治理领域的政策,对国家文明化工程实施的论点加以论证。

Keywords

ethnic minoritiesChinese statecentral–local state relationscivilizing projectsenvironmental governance少数民族文明化工程环境治理
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 219 , September 2014 , pp. 736 - 759
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2014 

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Footnotes

*

In February 2012, field research was carried out in Xichang city and Meigu county in Liangshan Prefecture in a collaborative project with the South-Western University of Nationalities. Interviews were conducted with local offices and officials concerning their perception of “environment,” “civilizing” the local Yi people, the “quality” of local people and cadres, responsibility contracts, and cadre performance evaluation. I also talked to members of the traditional elite (Bimo, Ndeggu), officials responsible for the Dafengding Nature Reserve (on Yi–Han relations), academics from the South-Western University of Nationalities, and local peasants. I also gathered local documents referring to the issues concerned. I am very grateful to Stevan Harrell, Li Lianjiang, Collin MacErras, Stig Thøgersen and two anonymous referees for valuable comments on an earlier draft.

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