Negotiating Chinese Infrastructures of Modern Mobilities: Insights from Southeast Asia
- Since the launch of the BRI, particular modes of movement are integral to its vision of what it means to be a modern world citizen. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Southeast Asia, where China-backed infrastructure projects expand, and at great speed. Such infrastructure projects are carriers of particular versions of modernity, promising rapid mobility to populations better connected than ever before. Yet, until now, little attention has been paid to how mobility and promises of mobility intersect with local understandings of development. In the introduction to this special issue, we argue that it is essential to think about the role infrastructure plays in forms of development that place connectivity at the center. We suggest that considering development, mobility and mo-dernity together is enlightening because it interrogates the connections between these interlocking themes. Through an introduction to five ethnographically grounded papers and two commentaries,Since the launch of the BRI, particular modes of movement are integral to its vision of what it means to be a modern world citizen. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Southeast Asia, where China-backed infrastructure projects expand, and at great speed. Such infrastructure projects are carriers of particular versions of modernity, promising rapid mobility to populations better connected than ever before. Yet, until now, little attention has been paid to how mobility and promises of mobility intersect with local understandings of development. In the introduction to this special issue, we argue that it is essential to think about the role infrastructure plays in forms of development that place connectivity at the center. We suggest that considering development, mobility and mo-dernity together is enlightening because it interrogates the connections between these interlocking themes. Through an introduction to five ethnographically grounded papers and two commentaries, all of which engage with infrastructures in different contexts throughout Southeast Asia, we demonstrate that there are significant gaps between of-ficial policy and lived experience. This makes the need to interrogate what infrastructure, mobilities, and global China really mean all the more pressing.…
Author: | Simon RowedderORCiD, Phill WilcoxORCiD, Susanne BrandtstädterORCiD |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-13973 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-0103 |
Parent Title (English): | Advances in Southeast Asian Studies (ASEAS) |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first Publication: | 2023/12/23 |
Publishing Institution: | Universität Passau |
Release Date: | 2024/03/13 |
Tag: | Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); China-Backed Infrastructure; Development; Mobility; Southeast Asia |
Volume: | vol. 16 |
Issue: | no. 2 |
Page Number: | 14 Seiten |
First Page: | 175 |
Last Page: | 188 |
Institutes: | Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät |
open_access (DINI-Set): | open_access |
Funding Acknowledgement: | Gefördert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der Universitätsbibliothek Passau. |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - CC BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International |