Questionner la question ethnique : lecture historique et politique des appartenances culturelles au Laos

• Main Author: Grégoire Schlemmer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2015-09-01
• Series: Moussons
• Subjects: ethnicity; ethnic; Laos; Southeast Asia; history; politic
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/moussons/3195

The 6 million people forming the Laotian population are officially divided into 49 ethnic groups. How can we explain this huge diversity of people ? How do they live together ? How does the State manage this diversity ? Based on the existing literature and on personal field research, I am presenting in this paper a general and synthetic perspective of the ethnic question in Laos. In doing so, I defend the idea that ethnicity should be conceived not as a given, but as a product resulting from a particular process that I will clarify here. This analysis will allow me to propose a socio-political perspective on ethnic and cultural issues.