From a Refuge to a Tea Place: the Tea Industry and the Emergence of Place at North Thai Borderland

• Main Authors: Chun-Yi Hsu, 許純鎰
• Other Authors: Po-Yi Hung
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/dnhybq

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 地理環境資源學研究所 === 104 === This paper traces the historical processes of agricultural transfer from Taiwan to north Thai border, especially on the most success and rich village, Mae Salong. Based on ac-tor-network theory and approach of relational geographies, I argue that agricultural transfer was not only a project to erase opium production, counterpoised power geome-try in highland of southeast Asia, but also a special element to reconfigure the network of Yunnanese Chinese’ settlements. Moreover, the network reconfiguration has then reshaped the Nature-society relationship. Specially, I follow tea transfer trajectory — including Taiwan experts’ teaching, local farmers’ learning and innovation — to illus-trate how the Taiwan oolong tea material and techniques have enacted all kinds of act-ants including taste of tea, shifting market, Yunnanese Chinese, tea making equipment, local image and community development organizations. Additionally, I argue that place is not an object to be constructed by social or other structures like nation state and mar-ket principles, but a performing effect from network stabilization. From the perspective of relationality, tea is not a fix object to be operated and moved, it is a continually changing “thing” with every elements and actants within network. I therefore argue that Mae Salong, as a famous and successful tea place, is more than a predictable outcome of the international agricultural project, but a string of actions assembled from hetero-geneous and hybrid networks in contingent processes. By using heterogeneous perspec-tive of Actor-Network Theory, tracing actions and conflicts, rather than by technology determinism and social constructivism, I could symmetrically realize how tea place making in Mae Salong. Thus, the transformation process from refugee camp to tea place is not only happened by the ramifications of Taiwan Oolong tea experts teaching or the predictable outcomes between power of international geopolitics and agricultural dip-lomat, but also the hybrid of several contingent action, which is continuously stabilizing connection between tea and Mae Salong. Tea place, which performs local meaning, is emerging from a stabilized actor-network.