Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
26th out of 46 books
—
6 voters
The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia
For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia (a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries) have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them—slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare. This book, essentially an “anarchist history,” is the first-ever exami...more
Hardcover, 464 pages
Published
September 30th 2009
by Yale University Press
(first published September 29th 2009)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
816)
So. I've always been an anarchist in principle (didn't Merlin say in The Once and Future King, every decent person is?) and I come to this, not with a special interest in upland SE Asia, but after this on hunter-gatherers Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior and after this on pastoral nomads Pastoralists: Equality, Hierarchy, And The State, and after a brave foray into the classic Pierre Clastres too. Wherein I've learnt statelessness is common, and clung to stubbornly,...more
2 likes · like · see review
view 1 comment
Simply an amazing work of scholarship with tremendous political implications, particularly for anarchist historiography.
I think this is by far the Scott's most important work to date.
I have followed Prof. Scott's work since the mid-1990's while I attended graduate school. In particular, I found his ability to highlight the agency/resistance of a people without a history insightful and extremely useful in discussing and analyzing my own work on social movements along the U.S.-Mexico border.
His...more
I think this is by far the Scott's most important work to date.
I have followed Prof. Scott's work since the mid-1990's while I attended graduate school. In particular, I found his ability to highlight the agency/resistance of a people without a history insightful and extremely useful in discussing and analyzing my own work on social movements along the U.S.-Mexico border.
His...more
James C. Scott's landmark book about the "maroon societies" of upland southeast Asia is riveting in its scope and imagination, though dense and academic in its execution. It concerns the intentional decision by roughly 80-100 million people, spread across an area spanning five Asian countries ("Zomia"), to seek a less fixed, less "civilized" life. It's an anarchist history because it involves people who chose to flee the predations of states and state-making (anarchy = absence of any form of pol...more
In The Art of Not Being Governed, Scott continues the story begun in Seeing Like a State, from the perspective of the “runaway, fugitive, maroon communities who have, over the course of two millennia, been fleeing the oppressions of state-making projects in the valleys—slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare.” (2009, ix) “Civilizational discourses,” Scott points out, “never entertain the possibility of people voluntarily going over to the barbarians,” and often even ha...more
This was supposed to be about Zomia, a proposed region running through the mountainous area between India to Vietnam. Scott spends less time discussing that and more time discussing state rejection in general. In essence, he argues against Hobbes, claiming that there are good reasons not to want to be part of a state. I think I generally accept his arguments on that front. The part of the book that is about Zomia, especially chapter 6 1/2, is a bit more difficult to swallow--so for example, he a...more
Professor Scott's history of stateless peoples in SE Asia is thought-provoking and relevant. Scott provides examples of peoples who persistently avoid the strictures and confines of the traditional state. This work is valuable for providing a glimpse into the lives of those who chose to truly "opt out." Given the pressures of the state, the days of these people are probably numbered; Leviathan continues on the march.
In the concluding chapter, Scott nails the challenge facing humanity: "For virtu...more
In the concluding chapter, Scott nails the challenge facing humanity: "For virtu...more
For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia (a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries) have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them—slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare. This book, essentially an “anarchist history,” is the first-ever examination of the huge literature on state-making whose author evaluates why people would deliberately and reactively remain stat...more
Masterful, and even though I've been studying many aspects of history for forty years, for me it lives up to the front cover blurb by one reviewer who said it would "change the way readers think about human history - and about themselves." It's dry in places, and it took me a while to get into it, but once I did it kept me up at night reading it.
The author's theme is that in many places, peoples who have historically eked out subsistence livings in isolated and rugged environments have not been...more
The author's theme is that in many places, peoples who have historically eked out subsistence livings in isolated and rugged environments have not been...more
pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, a history book about how a number of nonstate peoples in upland southeast asia have limited the influence of various configurations of state power on their autonomy. Has a fair amount of details about agriculture and terrain, which I appreciate -- I like an eye to those kind of material conditions. I particularly got into the bit about the kinds of social structures fostered by different staple foods, I've been telling everybody that sweet potato is t...more
1 like · like · see review
A look at the history and culture of stateless people in Southeast Asia. Scott's book challenges the idea that tribal people living in remote or hard-to-access areas have been "left behind" by "civilization". Instead he constructs an alternative history in which statelessness is often a choice and a survival mechanism by people seeking to avoid the burdens of living within a state.
Although the subject matter may appear obscure at a glance - Southeast Asia receives little attention in the US (whe...more
Although the subject matter may appear obscure at a glance - Southeast Asia receives little attention in the US (whe...more
I found The Art of Not Being Governed far more disappointing than I had hoped. Perhaps this is an unfair judgment-- if the book had been written by someone other than James Scott, I would have been happy to have accepted it as a lackluster but well-written anthropological history of Burma, but between his authorship and the titillating subtitle, I can't help but feel disappointed by the final product. In my opinion, the theoretical arguments were retreads of his Seeing Like a State , and the res...more
Would have gotten 5 stars, but was too long winded. This is labeled as a history/politics book, but it could also have been an anthropology book or even an agriculture studies book. After reading this I understand more fully (and sympathize with) some of the claims which anarcho-primitivists make about the aggressive and detrimental nature of early agricultural states.
It was also nice that the author brought in some stuff from outside SE asia to give the reader a frame of reference. The best sec...more
It was also nice that the author brought in some stuff from outside SE asia to give the reader a frame of reference. The best sec...more
Really impressive, well-argued and researched look at the shifting political and ethnic identities in Southeast Asia. I saw this as a more convincing enumeration of Scott's thesis in Seeing Like A State - that only certain ways of life are easily captured by state systems, and other strategies are formulated in opposition to them.
My only issue with the book is that Scott seems overly careful in returning to his main theses, reiterating previous statements with only a small additional detail or...more
My only issue with the book is that Scott seems overly careful in returning to his main theses, reiterating previous statements with only a small additional detail or...more
Vintage Scott...which I guess means highly readable prose, a celebration of the subaltern, and a polemic against the impositions of states. Somewhat provocative, but many of the arguments are not really new (as he himself admits). The preface is probably one of the funniest things I've read in a while, which is saying a lot for an academic book.
James C. Scott rocks. If you liked Seeing Like a State - you'll love this book too. Ever wondered where popular sayings like "against the grain" and "the path of least resistance" come from? Let Scott explain as he takes you through an amazing, rich and complex journey across Zomia.
Nov 27, 2011
Ajk
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
great people and people who want to be great or at least talk about great things.
Your mind will be blown by this. I'd consider promising it, even. Just an utterly fascinating read on history using SE Asia (something I know very little about) as a case study.
An engrossing work filled with clarity of purpose and rich observations. Informed by a growing body of anarchist history and focusing on communities living in the 'shatter zones' of world affairs this is incredibly unlikely to attain the anything near the readership of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation, and more's the pity.
Highly recommended to those with a deep interest in SE Asia, and the very real current impacts of political histories which reach back centuries (and on occasion millennia).
Highly recommended to those with a deep interest in SE Asia, and the very real current impacts of political histories which reach back centuries (and on occasion millennia).
I thought it was great. A fascinating argument (that the majority of human history has been a stateless one until the last few hundred years) and a incredibly throughough argument about the hill people versus the valley people, in that usually valley states thrive by slave labor (historically), and hills are populated by people who have fled those from those states and intentionally "live free".
Its very long, and really is very expansive an argument.
Its very long, and really is very expansive an argument.
A good book that turns colonization on its ear a little. The book could be half as thick. There is a lot of repetition of the same theme throughout. Great examples. Overall, a good read.
Scott is brilliant. He has researched his case thoroughly (that's a euphemism!) and presented his case (albeit with a provocative lens). The book was a bit redundant and overly dense, but the general history and analysis was very useful. One of the most interesting sections was the orality vs. literacy (and 'post-literate' society).
This book is utterly imaginative, not a label I use often for works of social science. Incredibly provocative. The first few chapters are a model of engaging writing, but the later chapters might be contain too much detail for non-South East Asia specialists.
(I just started this, but anything that includes "an anarchist history" in the title is bound to be at least interesting, right?)
This is boring. The subject is interesting but the book is repetitive. Too few ideas, too many words.
Jun 15, 2013
Libby
marked it as to-read
Jun 14, 2013
Ahmad Finchy
marked it as to-read
Jun 14, 2013
Jennifer Toren
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
received his bachelor's degree from Williams College and his MA and PhD (1967) from Yale. He taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison until 1976, when he returned to Yale. Now Scott is the Sterling Professor of Political Science and Professor of Anthropology and is Director of the Agrarian Studies Program. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has held grants from the N...more
More about James C. Scott...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Not so very long ago, however, such self-governing peoples were the majority of humankind. Today, they are seen from the valley kingdoms as “our living ancestors,” “what we were like before we discovered wet-rice cultivation, Buddhism and civilization.” on the contrary, I argue that hill peoples are best understood as runaway, fugitive, maroon communities who have, over the course of two millennia, been fleeing the oppressions of state-making projects in the valleys — slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labor, epidemics, and warfare.”
—
1 person liked it
“New World escape crops made the economics of escape as tempting as its politics. Colonial officials tended to stigmatize cassava and maize as crops of lazy natives whose main aim was to shirk work. In the New World, too, those whose job it was to drive the population into wage labor or onto the plantation deplored crops that allowed a free peasantry to maintain its autonomy. Hacienda owners in Central America claimed that with cassava, all a peasant needed was a shotgun and a fishhook and he would cease to work regularly for wages.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
