China's Angry River: Are The Subaltern Speaking?

What are the social implications for the proposed damming of China’s Nu River? Can the Chinese residents whose livelihoods depend upon the Nu River be classified as subaltern? If so, what are their forms of resistance and can we hear their protest? This paper argues that the damming of the Nu River marginalises and renders unconscious the ethnic minorities that inhabit the region. It explores tensions within subaltern studies to confirm that Nu locals are muted by dominant social and legal narratives. It applies this to the greater framework of power and resistance with examples of Chinese political protest in both subaltern contexts and normative narratives. Secondly, this paper applies these theories to the case study of the damming of the Nu River to explore nature of the affected subaltern groups.