Cross-Border Traders in Northern Laos

Simon Rowedder was a Research Fellow at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS), and member of the NUS-Max Weber Foundation Research Group on Borders, Mobilities and New Infrastructures. In December 2021, he became Assistant Professor of Development Politics at the University of Passau in Germany. Willem van Schendel, Professor of History, University of Amsterdam and International Institute of Social History, the Netherlands. He works with the history, anthropology and sociology of Asia. Recent works include A History of Bangladesh (2020), Embedding Agricultural Commodities (2017, ed.), The Camera as Witness (2015, with J. L. K. Pachuau). See uva.academia.edu/WillemVanSchendel.

• Acknowledgements Notes on Language and Transliteration INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 - “We are all Tai Lue”: International Trade Fairs as Local Ethnic Affairs CHAPTER 2 - “Normal fruits for Laos, premium fruits for China”: Transnational Flows of National Differences CHAPTER 3 - “Thailand: high quality; China: low price”: “Banal Cosmopolitanism” in Local Marketplaces CHAPTER 4 - “I didn’t learn any occupation, so I trade”: Narratives of Insignificance CHAPTER 5 - “No matter what, we’ll find a way”: Uncertain (Chinese?) Futures CONCLUSION - Large Insights from Smallness Complete Bibliography