Suchergebnisse

This article analyzes two key frontlines during the Cold War, border areas in the provinces of Savannakhet (central Laos) and Nakhon Phanom (northeastern Thailand), adjacent to the Lao-Vietnamese and Thai-Lao borders, respectively. We investigate the distinct transformative experiences of war and revolution on members of the same ethnic minority – the Phutai – in both locations. The wartime trajectories of these populations diverged significantly, partly because their territories experienced very different pre-Cold War histories. As a consequence, Phutai in Thailand moved through homogeneous ethnic space between Thailand and Laos. In contrast, the Phutai in Laos, hemmed in by political, topographic, and ethnic boundaries, contributed to the building of a communist proto-state. The Phutai were confronted by different communist projects, which also shaped their distinct revolutionary experiences: the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) boosted ethnic minorities' resistance against the Thai state's nationalist ideology, while the Lao revolutionary movement facilitated ethnic minorities' social mobility within the Pathet Lao apparatus. Whether through confrontation in Thailand or accommodation in Laos, Phutai in both locations played active roles in the multi-layered history of the region. (Crit Asian Stud/GIGA)

Professor Thayer cites three main areas of cooperation that have influenced US rapprochement with Laos: the Missing in Action/Prisoner of War (MIA/POW) issue, reduction of opium production and counter-terrorism. As he rightly contends, the MIA issue remains at the top of America's agenda in Laos. To date, 240 sets of remains of American service personnel have been found and identified; the search, led by US teams with Lao logistical support, for a further 355 MIAs continues. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractThis article draws on fieldwork carried out between 2004 and 2010 in the rural district of Sepon, located in the east of Savannakhet Province in southern Laos. The area was heavily bombed by U.S. forces between 1964 and 1973 in an attempt to stop North Vietnamese supplies flowing into South Vietnam from the North via the transportation network widely known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The district of Sepon constituted a strategic centre and logistics base area for the North Vietnamese Army, and was one of the most important nodes on the Trail. This paper represents an attempt to reconstruct life under aerial bombardment through the recollections of some survivors. The majority of recollections concerned aspects of day-to-day survival, including the most routine tasks of daily life that, under bombardment, became major challenges. However, some survivors dwelt on more profound issues, notably their remembrance of the period as a 'Dark Age' characterized by a loss of their humanity. Silences—untold or absent memories—are also present in the villagers' accounts, which we view not as an obstacle to the telling of their stories, but as an integral constituent of their recollections.

The various regimes that have marked the contemporary political history of Laos -- the French colonial state (1893-1953), the Independent Kingdom of Laos (1953-1975) and, since 1975, the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) -- have all carried out ethnic censuses. The classifications that have been used over the course of these three political periods highlight the rulers' desire to define the community they seek to dominate. For this reason, the census has performed a variety of different functions: helping to collect taxes under the French administration; an instrument in the service of the young Laotian state's nationalist project following independence; and, under the present regime, a dual purpose tool for promoting cultural diversity & monitoring ethnic groups. At the same time, postwar census campaigns have created a space in which a number of so-called "minority" ethnic groups have been able to express their identity. The study of ethnic classification -- whether as an instrument of power or a vector of identity -- is essential to understanding the politics of identity in contemporary Laos. Adapted from the source document.