What are the social implications for the proposed damming of China’s Nu River? Can the Chinese residents whose livelihoods depend upon the Nu River be classified as subaltern? If so, what are their forms of resistance and can we hear their protest? This paper argues that the damming of the Nu River marginalises and renders unconscious the ethnic minorities that inhabit the region. It explores tensions within subaltern studies to confirm that Nu locals are muted by dominant social and legal narratives. It applies this to the greater framework of power and resistance with examples of Chinese political protest in both subaltern contexts and normative narratives. Secondly, this paper applies these theories to the case study of the damming of the Nu River to explore nature of the affected subaltern groups.

Item Type:	Non Refereed Article
Keywords:	: China, Nujiang, Nu River, protest, resistance, consciousness, environment, damming, dams, subaltern.
Research Division:	Language, Communication and Culture
Research Group:	Cultural studies
Research Field:	Asian cultural studies
Objective Division:	Culture and Society
Objective Group:	Other culture and society
Objective Field:	Other culture and society not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Rudling, E (Miss Emily Rudling)
ID Code:	88192
Year Published:	2013
Deposited By:	School of Humanities
Deposited On:	2014-01-16
Last Modified:	2014-09-03
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