Workshop outline:
Cities across Southeast Asia and beyond depend upon the lives and livelihoods of rural-urban migrants for affordable and informal labor. Likewise, rural-urban migrants often depend upon work in cities to support urban and rural living. To date, however, we know little about how these rural-urban connections have coped with the mobility restrictions and market closures caused by Covid-19. Taking work and labor in late capitalism as a general frame of reference, this workshop seeks to explore how those living already vulnerable lives have managed the interrelated effects of economic downturn, health concerns, supply chain disruption, and social barriers due to the coronavirus restrictions and their after-effects. While we know that those living in precarity often depend upon multiple connections to rural and/or urban places for work, family, or land, we know relatively little about how these connections may have adjusted during and post-pandemic. This workshop aims to deepen our understanding of the pandemic’s interrelated and indirect effects on those lesser heard voices and lesser studied locations in the Southeast Asia region, and to discuss some of the potential longer-term ramifications of pandemic responses on rural-urban mobilities, livelihoods, and work.
Link: https://ari.nus.edu.sg/events/rural-urban-lives/
Paper abstract:
The Covid-19 pandemic and the 2021 military coup have dramatically affected the lives and livelihoods of communities across Myanmar. Border areas in the north of the country also suffered from the prolonged closure of the Chinese borderdue to PRC Covid containment measures. The city of Ruili, the main trading hub between the two countries, witnessed one of China’s strictest series of lockdowns, and its border with Myanmar remained largely closed for over 1000 days. This impacted not only cross-border businesses, but also the lives of thousands of temporary migrants in China (many of whom, in fact, return to Myanmar during the pandemic). To address the impacts of those multiple and overlapping crises, this paper investigates the case of Kachin amber: a gemstone extracted in Kachin State’s Hukawng valley which generated a significant business with China starting in the early 2010s. Over the past decade, many in Kachin State became involved in the amber business: from mining to polishing and trading, and a large market place had been set up in the outskirts of Myitkyina to facilitate the trade with China. Based on interviews with miners and traders conducted in 2021-2022, in both Myitkyina and the Hukawng valley, this paper provides an initial assessment of the impact of Covid-19, the coup, and border closure on the amber industry in Kachin State.