Conclusion

The conclusion returns to the book’s central question of how people in the frontier zone of Dali develop gendered local identities out of multiple possibilities. Baijie’s examples, from the Dali kingdom to the present, show that people Dali locals have combined local and translocal elements in different ways in response to historical changes. Representations of Dali identity strategically use gendered symbols that correlate to local and translocal forces, so that Baijie’s roles as dragon maiden, mother, and martyr tie her to Dali while also making her legible within universalizing semiotic systems.