Walking as Biocultural Action: Infrastructure(s) of Hope at the China’s Hmong Borderland

Abstract

Infrastructure reorganizes time-space, transforming local rhythms of life and access to sacred sites. As residents of the Wuling Mountains in Xiangxi, Central China, Miao/Hmong people have walked in the mountains for centuries until the arrival of paved roads in the last decades. Through ethnographic research, this study finds that ancestral footpaths have sustained generational knowledge sharing and more-than-human relations. Synthesizing perceptions from local youth who recurrently organize the re-walking events, this study examines how notions of hope and progress embedded in state-led roadbuilding initiatives are negotiated on the ground. Drawing on Amber Murrey’s concept of “slow dissent”, this study theorizes walking as a practice through which Miao people reclaim agency over human-mountain relationships and reassert footpaths as integral components of the biocultural landscape in Xiangxi. The findings point toward a more culturally sensitive approach toward developmental projects on ethnic minority land, one that integrates traditional ecological knowledge and engages with youth in the making of more just and diverse futures for rural China.