Laos : Culture and Society

Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1999. Trade Paperback. First Edition. Fine. Interior pristine. Spine straight, tight and uncreased. Covers clean and bright. Very slight corner wear. Not from a library. No remainder mark. xi + 313 pages. lg 8vo. ill., maps.

The first comprehensive social and cultural study of Laos in forty years. Laos stands at the center of mainland Southeast Asia. It shares borders with all the main states in the region including China, so that when one touches on Laos, one touches the heart of the region. Any study of culture and society in Laos inevitably leads into broader issues associated with all the surrounding societies and cultures concerning their origins and contemporary developments. While all the essays in this volume take Laos as their focal point they raise issues which overflow the boundaries of the Lao state. They focus on the creation of the idea of Laos and its culture, whether it be through literature, tourism, or the activities of nationalists, thereby contributing to more general debates on the nature of Southeast Asian nationalism. They look at questions of minorities in Laos and issues of ethnic change. And they look at Laos in its regional context, and at Lao businessmen in their new global context.

Contents: From buffer state to crossroads state / Randi Jerndal & Jonathan Rigg -- Towards a new Laos / Soren Ivarsson -- Women, space, and history / Andrew Walker -- Elites in exile / Si-ambhaivan Sisombat Souvannavong --Ethnic change in highland Laos / Grant Evans -- The Lue of Muang Sing / Khampheng Thipmuntali -- Apprentice ethnographers / Grant Evans -- Royal relics / Ing-Britt Trankell -- Women's power and Theravada Buddhism / H. Leedom Lefferts, Jr. -- Books of search / Peter Koret -- Lao as a national language / N.J. Enfield.