rapping it up

the intermediate disturbance theory in ecology describes a phenomenon in which a certain intermediate level of disturbance (fire, cutting, natural treefall, disease) in a community or ecosystem makes for the highest level of biodiversity - giving secondary growth species a chance to flourish under the newly freed sunlight and nutrients, overtaking the stagnant stable climax species. A similar phenomenon seems to occur in the forest of the human mind - a certain amount of disturbance, uncomfortableness or uneasiness, the new, the other, can cause a heightened diversity of ideas, perspectives, emotions.

And so I find myself in an upland Karen village, Huay Tong Kaw, a three hour drive (in the one truck owned in the town of 30ish households) from Mae Hong Son. These Karen people, traditionally animist tribal people from Burma speaking the language of Bag'ken'yaw (and sometimes Thai as a second langauge), are my hosts. These people live in the hills - there is no flat land to be walked upon. Much of there land is in the national parks that have been deemed such after their settlement in them. There is constant tension between the forestry department and the villages (especially when they don't have official land title or citizenship) with arrests and forced movements attempted in the recent past. The major question of the course was the precarious debate between people and forests, biodiversity and human development.

Traditonally (and in the stereotyped view of many lowland Thais and academics) they are subsistence 'shifting cultivation' farmers. They use the method of rotational (swidden) farming: controlled burning (leave the stumps for coppicing), planting one hillside 'rai' for a year with primarily rice but also squash/pumpkin ('fuck tawng' in thai... go ahead and say it), green beans ('tooa fuck yao'... say that one too), and hot peppers. They then let the land fallow for 9 years allowing it to regenerate a secondary growth forest and return many nutrients into the biomass of the trees and shrubs, allowing it to be burned and planted again regernating the cycle.

Although this is still the major form of livelihood, the Karen people are not so simple... I will provide a partially meaningful rap about the issue (make sure to use a 'gangster rapper' type delivery when reading):

everywhere you look everything picturesque
but have you ever considered the Karen consensus?
communing with nature is great and all
until you hear that development call

think you could eat some rat or a mouse
live in a bamboo open fire pit house?
we can't be Karen for even a week
miss the kanom so bad you think you might tweak!

so whats more important the roads or the trees
the dipterocarps or feelin the breeze
on that new motocy of which you just got the keys
forget dibble sticking, ride one of these!

(kanom = snack in thai, dibbl stickin = traditonal karen courtship activity of planting the newly burned rai, karen concensus = academic paper concept on stereotype of karen lifestyle)

If that doesn't make things clear, the issue of development and roadds has changed these villages in many ways. The one dirt national park road has brought limited tourism, a cash economy link, modern helathcare, and formal education in the city for kid at the cost of debt, teenagers not learning the traditional ways, and some kinds of cultural diffusion. The villagers are not always convinced it was a good thing in many ways. Now to the villages (or 2 of 5!)



There they are! Mugaw BoonSee on the left and my Pawtee (the village liason with the government) next to her. This family brought us to harvest rice in the naw - a lowland paddy rice field that some Karen harvest instead of the traditional rai. This is a traditional time for flurting and courtship between young single Karen. Some chickens were sacrificed (animism holdover, now the village has converted to Buddhism). And there I am working on some blacksmithing... these guys convert old car suspensions into knifes and machetes for the village.















okay the next village i will take you to is nam hoo, a christian converted village of 9 households. Here is the rai I treshed rice at (pictures from the last post). On the hour long steep descent home from the rai, Pawtee would casually stop along the side of the road to cut some bamboo or get some 2nd skin layer from a papaya tree, which we later used to make rat traps that are set in the forest with some rice (what else) and cumin? I think for smell/stick. MMhhmmh delicious rat mouse.














What else happened here in nam Hoo? lets rap it out thai/english style:

ruminated gaiters all up in your face
don't look down its not a disgrace
through the intestines of a cow or a kwai
thats why they are coming back to m'young Chiang Mai

warm up, monkey, bar shaky: you name it
rumenated gaiters are the newest fashion statement
you can wear em on your legs you can wear em on you arms
so damn fly they will sound the alarm

no more gore-tex? mai pen rai
no buttons or straps? di mai? di!
thats all I gotta say bout my rumenated gaiters
k seewald on the mic i'll check ya later



















this is two of the 5 villages we backpacked between, it can do no justice to the amazingness of the trip. to end this long and arduous post, i will reward you with some pictures of the top of thailand. I climbed Doi chang Dao, the third highest peak this weekend to see a sunset and sunrise - straight out of land before time or jurrassic park. feast you eyes. thanks for reading. happy thanksgiving. - kyle