Smuggling and states along a Southeast Asian frontier

Abstract

What is the nature of commodities in transit as they move across unstable spaces like international boundaries? How do time, geography, and culture influence whether or not goods are considered to be contraband? Who gets involved in smuggling, and why? Is involvement influenced by ethnicity, language, and class? How do states 'see' - especially along their frontiers? And what strategies do smugglers use to outwit the state's normally superior resources?