Modern societies can’t function without states, right?

…Or can they?

From Daniel Schniedewind ’11:

James Scott, Professor of Anthropology and Political Science and Director of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale, will be discussing Zomia, a rugged “transnational Appalachia” which stretches from Vietnamese highlands to the Tibetan plateau. Scott argues that Zomia embodies the largest region remaining in the world today whose peoples have not been fully incorporated into nation states. This, according to his provocative and persuasive argument, is the result of conscious efforts to resist projects of valley-based state formation over many centuries.

This talk will be a powerful exploration of everyday resistance and self-governance with profound implications for our understanding of our own modernity.