Asymmetrical Affect: ‘Comforts’ ( Sabay ) of a Chinese Hydropower Project in Northern Laos

This article introduces the concept of asymmetrical affect to examine how the resettled from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds have been conditioned by and reacted to the affections of relocation under a Chinese hydropower project in northern Laos. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork and household interviews, I scrutinise how the relocation, along with its concomitant development and unexpected consequences, has provided ‘comfort’ (sabay) or caused ‘impoverishment’ (thouk) to the ‘bodies’ (gay) and ‘hearts’ (chai) of the resettled. The local elite capitalised on new infrastructure to improve their livelihoods and social standing, whereas the rural poor with labour power suffered from economic dispossession, community/family dislocation, and emotional distress. All rural destitute villagers experienced a ‘poetic infrastructural disconnect’; some faced ethnic discrimination and unfair allegations. I argue that the intersection of new material conditions and unequal social positions informs post-relocation ‘sabay’, thus challenging large-scale development’s narratives of uniform progress.