Encounters and Entanglements: Localizing Global China in Laos and Vietnam

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Sandra Kurfürst; Dr. Oliver Tappe
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Asian Studies
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548613993

The global expansion of the Chinese sphere of economic and political influence has attracted the attention of scholars, political stakeholders, and affected local populations. However, the social effects of this complex process on the ground are still only little studied. This is particularly true for the northern Southeast Asian borderlands, where processes of Chinese globalization are embedded in a long history of entanglements and exchange, of friction and conflict. EE-LaoViet seeks to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms and social effects of Global China on the ground. How do local communities perceive, resist, negotiate, or even appropriate Global China? Through fine-grained ethnographic research in northern Lao and Vietnamese towns, the team members tackle this urgent aspect of China’s growing global influence by addressing three main issues: 1) historical Chinese networks in the Southeast Asian borderlands; 2) affective economies and related patterns of conviviality; 3) Chinese impacts on local social differentiation and elite formation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France, Laos
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Simon Rowedder
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Vanina Bouté; Dr. Emmanuel Pannier; Professor Dr. Saleumsak Phabouddy; Professorin Dr. Champathong Phochanthilath; Dr. Grégoire Schlemmer; Jade Thavixay