(Post-)colonial borders and ethnic borders of the Vietnamese multiethnic state with China

Abstract

The borders delimiting the territorial sovereignty of (post-)colonial na- tion-states are a result of their history.The Sino-Vietnamese border in the northern region of the multi-ethnic state of Vietnam establishes the legal basis for the shared boundaries with China, based on the political heritage left by the historical legacy of Indochina during French colonialism. The material construction of these boundaries has left a deep imprint on the daily lives of Vietnam’s highland peoples, and on their inter-ethnic relations with border-dwelling groups on both sides of the line throughout history. New policies and the construction of classificatory categories and integration into national hegemony adapt to the Asia-centric geopolitical context that connects East and the Southeast Asia. A situated anthropology of borders and of ethnic minority communities at the borders challenges

and sometimes reproduces the inherited discourses of the coloniality of knowledge and power that the discipline played a role in during the colonial geopolitics of Asia. The challenge of integrating diversity within the multiethnic reality of these countries lies in constructing a new epistemology of the border, where the memory, identity, knowledge, and heritage of these cross-border groups find a place within the framework of a broad perspective on minority rights. This is a complex challenge amid the logics of systemic fragmentation, militarization, and global walling of borders characterizing this phase of capitalism, with Asia playing a prominent role in this process.