Surviving the State

Preface ix Introduction 1 1. Securing Subsistence 25 2. Making Meaningful Life 54 3. Learning Risky Rights 85 4. From Cultivating Ambiguity to Demonstrating Deservingness 115 5. Fleeing Home and Fighting Back 145 Conclusion. Seeking Justice 167 Acknowledgments 173 Appendix: Methodology 177 Notes 183 References 205 Index

"Americans are beginning to sense that we need to understand how authoritarianism works - and more importantly how resistance works. No place offers perfectly adaptable lessons, but every place has stories to tell - including, in this fine volume, Myanmar. It is a testament to brave people, which we increasingly need to be."-Bill McKibben, author of, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization "Surviving the State is an eloquent and risky (in all the best ways) ethnography of struggles over land during times of authoritarianism, democracy, and beyond in Myanmar. Faxon develops a compelling frame - surviving the state - to develop a way of comprehending how Chin and Burman farmers and activists create meaning in seemingly hopeless times."-Tyrell Haberkorn, author of, Dictatorship on Trial: Coups and the Future of Justice in Thailand