Remembering the Mun: engendering local geographies of resistance to the Pak Mun Dam

The Pak Mun Dam remains one of north-eastern Thailand's most disputed infrastructure projects. Local livelihoods, particularly those of women, have been negatively impacted, leading many to participate in the resistance movement against the dam. While the fight continues, protests have waned in frequency and vigour. Many in the resistance movement have grown older and passed on, while others have accepted their fate brought on, in part, by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's use of resources to foment division among villagers. In the place of mass protests, local actors have turned to organising memorial events, in which resistance is expressed through local practices. This article explores the roles of women, particularly Mae Sompong, in shaping new geographies of resistance through the embodied performances of two memorial events—the Liang Luang Liang Wang and the Boon Mot ceremonies. While the annual Liang Luang Liang Wang ceremony commemorates the migration of fish upriver from the Mekong River into the Mun River and the Boon Mot ceremony commemorates Wanida (Mot) Tantiwittayapitak and other Pak Mun Dam activists who have died, both serve as reminders of past resistance and are catalysts for future contestations. Using a feminist political ecology approach, we contend that ethnic Lao villagers, especially women, constitute local geographies of anti-dam resistance through commemorative practices, ones that have been rendered unimportant and invisible by uneven power relations.