Highways and Hierarchies: Ethnographies of Mobility from the Himalaya to the Indian Ocean (New Mobilities in Asia)

Highways and Hierarchies: Ethnographies of Mobility from the Himalaya to the Indian Ocean explores the contemporary proliferation of roads in South Asia and the Tibet-Himalaya region, showing how new infrastructures simultaneously create fresh connections and reinforce existing inequalities. Bringing together ethnographic studies on the social politics of road development and new mobilities in twenty-first-century Asia, this edited collection demonstrates that while new roads generate new forms of hierarchy, older forms of hierarchy are remade and re-established in creative and surprising new ways. Focused on South Asia but speaking to more global phenomena, the chapters collectively reveal how road planning, construction and usage routinely yield a simultaneous reinforcement and disruption of social, political and economic relations. Cover -- Table Of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Thinking With Roads -- Penny Harvey -- 1. Why Highways Remake Hierarchies -- Luke Heslop And Galen Murton -- 2. Stuck On The Side Of The Road -- Mobility, Marginality, And Neoliberal Governmentality In Nepal -- Galen Murton And Tulasi Sharan Sigdel -- 3. A Road To The 'hidden Place' -- Road Building And State Formation In Medog, Tibet -- Yi Huang -- 4. Dhabas, Highways, And Exclusion -- Swargajyoti Gohain -- 5. The Edge Of Kaladan -- A 'spectacular' Road Through 'nowhere' On The India-myanmar Borderlands -- Jasnea Sarma 6. The Making Of A 'new Dubai' -- Infrastructural Rhetoric And Development In Pakistan -- Mustafa A. Khan -- 7. Encountering Chinese Development In The Maldives -- Gifts, Hospitality, And Rumours -- Luke Heslop And Laura Jeffery -- 8. Roads And The Politics Of Thought -- Climate In India, Democracy In Nepal -- Katharine Rankin And Edward Simpson -- Authors Notes -- Index -- List Of Figures -- Figure 3.1 A Crashed Vehicle Lying In The River Valley -- Figure 3.2 Yellow Prayer Flags Standing On The Medog Highway -- Figure 3.3 Medog County Seat And The Yalu Zangbu River Figure 4.1 Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba, Murthal, Nh 1 -- Figure 4.2 Anurag Dhaba, Nagaon Bypass, Nh 37 -- Figure 4.3 Trucks Parked Outside A Line Dhaba, Nh 37 -- Figure 4.4 Inside A Line Dhaba, Nh 1 -- Figure 6.1 Pictures Of Container Hotel Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web. Cover 1 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Preface 10 Thinking with roads 10 Penny Harvey 10 1. Why highways remake hierarchies 22 Luke Heslop and Galen Murton 22 2. Stuck on the side of the road 40 Mobility, marginality, and neoliberal governmentality in Nepal 40 Galen Murton and Tulasi Sharan Sigdel 40 3. A road to the ‘hidden place’ 70 Road building and state formation in Medog, Tibet 70 Yi Huang 70 4. Dhabas, highways, and exclusion 98 Swargajyoti Gohain 98 5. The edge of Kaladan 126 A ‘spectacular’ road through ‘nowhere’ on the India-Myanmar borderlands 126 Jasnea Sarma 126 6. The making of a ‘new Dubai’ 156 Infrastructural rhetoric and development in Pakistan 156 Mustafa A. Khan 156 7. Encountering Chinese development in the Maldives 176 Gifts, hospitality, and rumours 176 Luke Heslop and Laura Jeffery 176 8. Roads and the politics of thought 198 Climate in India, democracy in Nepal 198 Katharine Rankin and Edward Simpson 198 Authors notes 222 Index 224 List of figures 7 Figure 3.1 A crashed vehicle lying in the river valley 76 Figure 3.2 Yellow prayer flags standing on the Medog Highway 77 Figure 3.3 Medog County seat and the Yalu Zangbu River 83 Figure 4.1 Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba, Murthal, NH 1 102 Figure 4.2 Anurag Dhaba, Nagaon Bypass, NH 37 102 Figure 4.3 Trucks parked outside a line dhaba, NH 37 104 Figure 4.4 Inside a line dhaba, NH 1 105 Figure 6.1 Pictures of Container Hotel 166 This edited collection explores the contemporary proliferation of roads in South Asia and the Tibet-Himalaya region, showing how new infrastructures simultaneously create fresh connections and reinforce existing inequalities. Bringing together ethnographic studies on the social politics of road development and new mobilities in 21st-century Asia, it demonstrates that while new roads generate new forms of hierarchy, older forms of hierarchy are remade and re-established in creative and surprising new ways. Focused on South Asia but speaking to more global phenomena, the chapters collectively reveal how road planning, construction and usage routinely yield a simultaneous reinforcement and disruption of social, political, and economic relations.