The geographical process of international corridor construction:The assemblage perspective of China-Myanmar Indian Ocean New Channel
Focusing on"heterogeneous spanning space"of human and non-human elements and"post-relational ontology"with the process logic,assemblage provides a new philosophical perspective for geographical research,as it considers the interactions between heterogeneous components and their dynamic relations.From the assemblage perspective,this paper attempts to construct an analytical framework for the geographical process of international corridor construction,which means that,the process can be analysed through the component dimension of material/expressive,or the changing dimension of territorialization/deterritorialization and coding/decoding.Using the China-Myanmar Indian Ocean New Channel as a case study,this paper analyses its geographical process assembled by heterogeneous elements and their interrelations over the past century.The main finding is that,based on geographical advantages of Lincang's side as material components,the corridor's opening is assembled jointly by the historical trauma and century-old dream resulted from the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway,the leadership of the Chinese government and positive practices of local actors in the 21st century.The sudden termination of the Yunnan-Burma Railway due to the Japan's invasion in the Second World War,has coded the painful memory for local actors,which became the affective power to force the subsequent assembling.The cross-scale power coupling of the corridor's assemblage in the 21st century is achieved through the Chinese government's initiative and the railway infrastructure construction,as well as Lincang's positive cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Myanmar's actors,and China's other provinces,cities and enterprises.However,the corridor construction still faces assembling risks and challenges currently,such as the low-level construction of transborder infrastructure,the insufficient coding of bilateral agreements,and ongoing conflicts in northern Myanmar,which all need to be coped with in the future.This paper not only contributes to the understanding of the process and integrity of assemblage,complements the recognition of geo-relations and actors'functions,but also inspires the discussion and innovation of geography's research paradigms,and the corridor construction and development in the future.
assemblageinternational corridor constructiongeographical processChina-Myanmar Indian Ocean New Channelheterogeneous spanning spacepost-relational ontology
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