Mien relations: Mountain people and state control in Thailand

This review is of H Jonsson's book on Mien Relations: Mountain people and state control in Thailand,buplished by Ithaca NY and London: Cornell University Press 2005. Although focused on Thailand, this book applies cultural and ethnographic approaches to explaining how one ethnic group in Thailand has shaped its identity in the face of modernity and increasing state control. It argues that this ethnic group is not being 'swept away' by outside forces; nor is it clinging to romanticized images of its past. Rather, people can both modernize and hold onto their identity through various complex means.