Introduction - SEAsite - Northern Illinois University

Prentation Abstracts
future. Actually, after Chintanakan-mai, the new way of thinking policy, has been
adopted in 1986, rural life in Laos has highly changed: for example, land-forest
allocation program has carried out and commercial farming of new cash crops has
introduced. Also, another question to consider is addressed: who is the real actor of
these changes? It is estimated that many of the changes had risen not by domestic
people’s own initiatives but by outsider’s guidance and suggestions. Thus, actions
of foreign governmental and nongovernmental organizations and private companies
have made a huge impact on many aspects of political and economical issues
of all over the regions in Laos.
How we should expect the future of rural Laos? Is it going to move to the direction
of centralized and standardized situation of northern Vietnam and Yunnan
Province, or create a unique style to maintain its diversity and own characteristics?
However, unfortunately, few reports on Laotian rural life are available. Therefore,
based on the field surveys in the forest and farmland, this panel provides three
topics, 1) plant uses for minor subsistence, 2) changes in land-forest use and 3)
relationships between ethnic groups and occupation structure, to discuss about the
close interaction between land, biological resources and people in Laos. We aim to
argue the past, present and future of rural life in Laos from the comparative views
with surrounding areas of the mainland Southeast Asia.
Hirota Isao*, Nakanishi Asami**, Vilaysak Vanhna***
and Eiji Nawata*
Dynamics of Fallow Vegetation in Shifting Cultivation in
Northern Laos: A Case Study in Houay Phee Village,
La District, Udomxay Province
* Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan
** Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Japan
*** Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos
Dynamics of fallow vegetation in shifting cultivation was studied in Houay
Phee Village, La District, Udomxay Province, Lao P. D. R. by comparing various
characteristics of fallow and conservation forests, which were able to be regarded
as long fallow forest. DBH (diameter at breast height) and height of all woody
plants in 20x20 m quadrats were investigated in a conservation forest, a secondary
forest after the fallow period of more than 20 years and fallow forests with various
fallow periods from 1 to 8 years. In each quadrat, 5 species were ranked according
to the abundance and Shanon-Weaver index was calculated. Canopy openness was
measured by photographs of the canopy. The biomass of woody plants increased
gradually in the first 2 years, and rapidly in the 3rd year, and the increase of the
biomass continued up to 8th year. The increase of biomass at early stages of the
fallow period was mainly accounted for that of bamboo. The biomass of the other
woody species increased as fallow periods prolonged. The biomass of bamboo
was less than 5% of the whole biomass in the conservation forest. Among tree species,
Euphorbiaceous plants were dominant in all quadrats except the conservation
forest. Fagaceous and Juglandaceous plants, known as climax species in this area,
appeared in later stages of fallow period. These species were especially abundant
in the conservation forest. Bamboo was dominant species in all quadrats except
the conservation forest. As it is unnatural that the biomass of bamboo have been
decreased sharply in the fallow forests in about ten years and bamboo grows much
faster than the other woody species at early growth stages, bamboo may have
flourished more remarkably in recent years.
Meanwhile, according to the interviews with the villagers, the main nontimber
forest products (NTFPs), like cardamom, paper mulberry, peuak meuak
(Boehmeria malabarica), or tiger grass, were begun gathering about from 5 to 10
years ago. At this time, forest utilization of the villagers abruptly changed, while
NTFPs is mainly gathered in the fallow forests. As a result, there have been two
impacts, which are the shortening of fallow periods and the gathering of NTFPs,
on the fallow forests in these about ten years, and that causes recent vegetation
change in this area.
Bret Johnston
“Public” and “Private”: Notes on Media, Performance, and the
Public Sphere in the Lao PDR
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Wisconsin
In light of the Lao government’s recent ban on the showing of Thai media in
public places, my paper considers what may be an emerging distinction between
ideas of “public” and “private” in contemporary Laos. In particular, such policies
point to what may be a de facto recognition of the limits of state power on the part
of the LPRP. I consider these issues by way of a comparison between two musical
performances I observed in Laos in 2003, each of which is implicated with emerging
media privatization in different ways.
Dara Kanlaya, MS
The Preservation of Palm leaf Manuscripts in Lao PDR
Manager and Chief Editor of DOKKED Publisher.
Permanent Advisor, Preservation of Lao Palm Leaf Manuscript Program
National Library, Ministry of Information and Culture
Lao PDR
This paper deals with the palm leaf manuscripts’ preservation and transmission,
as it was performed in the traditional way in the Lane Xang Kingdom in
the past 600 –700 years. When Laos lost its independence, the leading role of
manuscripts in the education were also degrading due to ongoing wars. In the
past, there were two periods of great loss. There had been attempts to safeguard
the manuscripts. During the cultural renaissance period between 1928-1941 and
thereafter, the attempts of intellectuals and leading administration (cooperating
with concerned foreign researchers), the renovation of monasteries and the copying
of palm-leaf manuscripts were registered. Transliteration into Lao language
and publication for school purpose by Chanthaboury Buddhist Council provided a
broader dissemination to all Buddhist schools throughout the country.
However, when the modern educational system developed with an emphasis
on general education, the curriculum related to Buddhism was reduced and Lao
manuscripts were no more in appropriate care.
In 1988, the Ministry of Information and Culture ((MIC) carried out a
national seminar on manuscripts preservation with financial support from The
Toyota Foundation. Monks from 17 provinces have participated. They were invited
to present their reports concerning the condition and number of palm leaf
manuscripts in their respective provinces. Thereafter, the project staff members
were nominated by the MIC in order to carry out inventory work in 6 provinces,
namely: Vientiane Capital, Vientiane province, Luang Prabang, Khammouane,
Savannakhet and Champassack. With the financial support of The Toyota Foundation,
the project-team was able to work for 6 years, on an inventory in the selected
monasteries.
Although the survey work in 6 provinces was completed, only the manuscripts
of 252 Buddhist monasteries could be registered, while Laos has more than
2,800 monasteries in the whole country. In response to this need, the MIC applied
for financial assistance from the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result, the
following 10 years of “Lao-German Cooperation” (1992-2002) can be considered
as an historical event in the protection of Lao manuscripts: All 17 provinces
were covered and many important and ancient manuscripts were registered and
microfilmed. The project activities emphasized on the participation of the public
and thee mobilization of concerned villagers and monks in that way ensuring the
involvement of people from all social strata. Regarding the study of these documents,
the project has encouraged and supported Buddhist monks and National
University in studying the traditional tham script, Pali language and ancient literature.
The project came to an end in 2002, however 2 years of follow up work has
been carried out. The final work was to establish four Preservation centers: (Luang
Prabang, Vientiane Capital, Savannakhet and Champassak) where the Lao Buddhist
Fellowship will continue the preservation and dissemination work on their
own, but with close follow-up and technical assistance of the National Library
The paper includes a lively series of photos showing the activities of fieldwork
throughout the country.