Customer Reviews

Resource Scarcity and the Hmong Response: Patterns of Settlement and Economy in Transition

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This is a classic work on the economic anthropology and settlement patterns of the Hmong in Northern Thailand at a time when they were the main opium producers in the region. Cooper spent two years in Hmong villages in both Thailand and Laos in the midst of wars over control of the opium trade and for control of Laos. His work was pioneering in establishing the productivity of opium production in a highland family unit and in considering the evolutionary trends of Hmong economy that could help and delay attempts to reduce opium cultivation. Hid work was never fully recognised by anti-opium agencies and much has since been plagiarized. Cooper now runs a book shop in Nongkhai Thailand. I recently met him there and he gave me one of his last copies of Resource Scarcity. He is under the impression the book has been out of print for many years -- he certainly has received no royalties from Singapore University. Something somebody should look into.