Carlos Rojas is Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies; Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; and Arts of the Moving Image at Duke University. He is the author, editor, and translator of several books, most recently
Ralph A. Litzinger is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University and the author of
Carlos Rojas is Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies; Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; and Arts of the Moving Image at Duke University. He is the author, editor, and translator of several books, most recently
Ralph A. Litzinger is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University and the author of
Dams, Displacement, and the Moral Economy in Southwest China
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Published:August 2016
This chapter examines hydropower development on Southwest China’s Nu River. Drawing on the notion of the moral economy, I illustrate how different constituent groups—including government agencies and hydropower corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and communities facing displacement and resettlement—view the issue of dam development and attempt to shape policy outcomes. Government policy and rhetoric emphasize the need to develop alternative energy sources to decrease reliance on fossil fuels amid continued economic growth requiring a greater energy supply. However, hydropower development entails the displacement and resettlement of thousands of people belonging to historically marginalized groups who stand to lose access to the agricultural land that supports their livelihoods. This raises key questions about rural property rights regimes and the new ways in which local farming households and communities are brought into the sphere of the market economy as the nation moves away from Marxist and Maoist ideals.
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