III. LIMITACIÓN TEMPORAL
1. Antes de la reforma del Código Civil
The ethnography that follows (Chapters 1-6) consists of three parts. Chapters 1 and 2 cover the historical, political, and regional context that informs the border and its becomings in my research area7. The chapters are based on written historical records as well as on the memories and narratives of my interlocutors. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the situation and lives of my main interlocutors, female traders and state actors, demonstrating how these contribute to the becomings of the border through their everyday practices. Chapters 5 and 6 bring these actors together by highlighting their interactions in the act of crossing the border and trading goods. I will now provide an overview of each individual chapter.
Chapter 1 deals with the historical becomings of the border from the 18th century to 1975. This seems like a long time period to cover but I argue that it is necessary in order to demonstrate how so-called breaks in history such as the first demarcation of the Thai-Lao border in 1893 did not cause as much disruption as the term “break” implies.
Instead, I emphasise the gradual process of the becoming of the border and the
7 There have been further developments since the end of my research in 2012, which I will not cover in this thesis.
transition from the premodern polities of the mueang to the Westphalian model of the nation-state. I argue that my research area has historically been situated on the peripheries of larger centres of power and continued to do so until 1975. Despite the contestations around the demarcation of the Thai-Lao borderline and the various actors engaged in the border area throughout the civil war in Laos, my research area did not experience any major effects of the nation-state border until the communist takeover in Laos. This is confirmed by my interlocutors’ nostalgic memories of the time before 1975.
Chapter 2 focuses on the effects of the changing border regulations since 1975 and how small-scale traders have adapted to these. I argue that the cross-border trade in daily necessities has continued throughout these changing regulations despite their restrictions on cross-border flows and because of the opportunities these created. The chapter takes into account how the Thai and Lao side of the border were affected differently by the regulations following three events in particular: the economic embargo placed on Laos by Thailand in 1975, the opening of ports of toleration for villagers along the Hueang River from the 1980s, and the opening of the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge in 2004. Particularly since the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, I argue, small-scale trading practices have become more competitive and diverse and the distribution of daily necessities more diffuse with new kinds of actors emerging as a result.
Chapter 3 focuses on the female traders that engage in small-scale trade and the ways in which they contribute to the making and unmaking of the border in my research area.
The chapter focuses on three aspects in particular: the ways in which female traders integrate their trading practices with family life, their social networks, and their border mobility. Acknowledging the many kinds of female traders involved in the cross-border trade of daily necessities, each aspect highlights the situation of those female traders to whom it is most significant and relevant with regard to the border. The section on social networks, for example, demonstrates how shophouse owners at customary border checkpoints simultaneously transgress and reinforce the border by referring to their trading partners in Laos as siblings (phinong).
Chapter 4 examines the situation and lives of the most relevant state actors in my research area and their social and cultural embeddedness. By revealing their practices and attitudes as well as their interactions with non-state actors, the chapter highlights the
blurred line between the state and society. I argue that this allows us to not only understand how the state is constituted in all its different forms but also how the border is made and unmade in this blurry interface of state and society.
Chapter 5 concentrates on the act of crossing the border itself and the way state and non-state actors interact with each other in the process. I examine the role of travel documents, border performances, and social relationships between traders and border guards and how these facilitate and restrict cross-border movement. Building on the social embeddedness of state actors, I demonstrate how a cultural intimacy between border guards and border crossers often trumped the necessity for paperwork. Social relationships, familiarity and trust between border guards and regular border-crossers created order and stability in what otherwise may be seen as a porous and unregulated border. Border-crossers without such ties were subject to arrests and sometimes violence.
In Chapter 6, the thesis culminates in a discussion on the way the border comes into being through the interactions of state and non-state actors in the act of trading goods across the border. The interactions come in the form of social relationships and gift-giving practices. I place particular emphasis on the trading practices conducted in sites outside the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge. At customary border checkpoints, for example, it was at the discretion of the local border guards to decide what they consider licit and illicit goods and how many goods they consider “small-scale”. Border guards on the Thai and Lao side differ in their considerations of the licit and also in their involvement in bribery. With regard to bribery, I argue that we must differentiate between more predatory forms such as extortion and more collaborative forms.
The final chapter provides a summary of my findings and their implications for the study of borders more generally. It also provides a brief insight into the most recent developments in my research area, suggesting further research to be done.