Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Gerard McCarthy, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Like other global frontiers, the Cambodia-Vietnam borderlands are a hotspot for migration, land claims, and markets for newly introduced commodities. In her recent book, Unsettled Frontiers (Cornell 2022), Sango Mahanty examines how such markets form and evolve over time. She shows that frontier agricultural markets operate through diverse commodity networks that constitute a dynamic and disruptive market ‘rhizome’. In this seminar, Sango will discuss some of the book’s focal themes, including: the relationship between frontiers and borderlands in this region; the role of rural migration and land-claiming in frontier markets; the nexus between market formation and state formation; and what it means to think ‘rhizomically’ about frontier markets. Sango will reflect on how these insights translate to ongoing processes of social and environmental change, such as those imposed by the pandemic and climate change.

For further details on the book, see https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761485/unsettled-frontiers/#bookTabs=1.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sango Mahanty is Professor in the Resources, Environment, and Development Program in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. Sango is a critical geographer who studies the politics of green economies, frontier markets and nature-society transformations in Cambodia and Vietnam. For more information, please visit https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/academic/sango-mahanty.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.