General study of politics, the economy and society in the Lao PDR - reports on history, the influence of Buddhism, colonialism, and political developments up to the advent of the communist government; examines the social structure, ethnic groups, and socialist-based social change; analyses the political system, economic system (incl. The agricultural sector), and standard of living, defence policy, educational policy, social policy, cultural policy, foreign policy, etc. Bibliography, diagrams, map, statistical tables.
Changes in the character of the political regime in Laos after 2000, a massive influx of foreign investment, and disruptions to rural life arising from improved communications and new forms of mobility within and across the borders have produced a major transformation. Alongside these changes, a group of young scholars carried out studies that document the rise of a new social, cultural and economic order. The contributions to this volume draw on original fieldwork materials and unpublished sources, and provide fresh analyses of topics ranging from the structures of power to the politics of territoriality and new forms of sociability in emerging urban spaces.
Communist revolutions in this century have suppressed existing ritual and symbolic structures and invented new ones. Armed with new flags, new national celebrations, or new school textbooks, they have attempted to reconstruct social memory. This fascinating work of political anthropology examines the case of Laos from the heady days of the 1975 revolution to the more sober "post-socialist" present. Grant Evans traces the attempt at ritual and symbolic change in Laos, and the recent reemergence of older and deeper cultural structures, while identifying what has perhaps been irretrievably lost. In this challenging study of the cultural consequences of failed total revolution, Evans reaches some striking conclusions concerning the nature of social memory, cultural possibilities foregone, and the need for cultural continuity.
It is thought that Laos is home to no fewer than forty-seven ethnic groups. The Lao, who live in the plains, form half the country's population thereby constituting the country's predominant culture. Laos is also home, however, to many mountain minorities that live with their own languages, beliefs and aesthetic traditions. A large number of these local cultures, some of them of great antiquity, have managed to survive in spite of the ups and downs of regional history. None the less, this exceptional cultural diversity, which forms part of the rich national heritage of Laos, is currently under threat--in particular the intangible heritage of the oral, gestural, musical and ritual kind that relies entirely on memory.