Ethnogenesis pt. 1: Hill Tribes Are Like Street Kids

When we speak of revolution, aren't we are ultimately speaking of the creation of a different culture? And if so, how plausible or meaningful is it to imagine deliberately crafting a culture? In this episode, we begin to examine the long history of cultures on the margins of civilization as political projects, which are often misconstrued by states (and their ethnographers) as archaic remnants rather than deliberate efforts at state evasion. While this history will ultimately take us through millions of years of evolution, we will start by drawing out the parallels between northern California's back to the land movement--a culture we are all well aware was deliberately crafted as a political choice--and hill tribes, as described in James C. Scott's masterful The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia.