James Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science, Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University, spoke to a full capacity crowd on Monday, March 25.
Scott spoke at the invitation of the Duke Human Rights Center at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and his presentation was an extension of his 2009 book The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia.
A historian by training, James Scott has spent a career spanning five decades blurring the lines between anthropology and history, immersing himself in other cultures. He is the unofficial founder of the field of “resistance studies,” using his several publications to identify ways in which everyday anarchism, acts of dissidence and disruption in daily life, helps shape and refine democracy.
His talk “On Not Being Governed” described various cultural groups who seek refuge from political states by moving to terrain that is more difficult to navigate and cultivate. In particular, he discussed the peoples of Zomia, a region of high elevation in Southeast Asia that is roughly the size of Europe and includes territories of seven neighboring countries.
Scott described the way in which groups of people throughout time have fled the slavery, conscription, taxes, epidemics, and warfare of organized state societies by settling in liminal geographic areas. The peoples of Zomia reflect different ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds, but all employ strategies to remain stateless, such as staying on the move in nomadic societies, using agricultural practices that allow for greater mobility, and resistance to organized religion in favor of prophetic, millenarian leaders.