Seeing like Borders: Convergence Zone as a Post-Zomian Model.

This article examines the interests and concerns of two ethnic communities straddling the Sino-Tibetan borderlands-- the Gyalrongwa and Qiangzu--in the reconfigurations of their relations with the Chinese state, the Han, the Tibetans, and with each other, especially since 2008. I argue that both the Gyalrongwa and Qiangzu employ various tactics for their anticipated goals, notably strategic marginality, dissimilation through analogy, or the marginal's scapegoating, partly as responses to the Tibetan unrest and Sichuan earthquake. The differences and similarities in their authenticity and other claims as well as the approaches and strategies adopted are primarily outcomes of their hybridized identities and their marginal status vis-à-vis the Han state and Tibetans in history and at present. Above all, I adopt and expand the natural science convergence zone concept to identify multifarious manifestations and layers of the center-periphery paradigm as well as processes and effects of convergences among multiple external and internal forces at borders and margins. In provoking a further critical analysis and comparison, I bring forth Hong Kong's unique role as both a world metropolis and a peripheral Chinese city. I then conclude with open-ended questions regarding this theoretical model's prospects and challenges in examining and comparing a diverse range of borders and margins (and beyond) across time and space, including various subcultures in urban and other settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]