From the Lao News Agency:
Khammuan to build cultural village
Last weekend at Pakpeng village in Thakhek district, Khammuan province, a certificate presentation ceremony was held for 87 cultural families from Pakpeng village, which has 205 families. The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Chief of Thakhek district Mr Khamsing Bouphaseng, Head of Provincial Culture Sector Mr Sansamone Sayvongsa, officials from other districts, the Party Committee of the village group, local authorities and residents. The Deputy Head of Pakpeng village reported on the progress of the socio-economic development plan of the village, which involves Pakpeng village becoming a cultural village. This village has 1,850 ha of agricultural fields and 12 units, with 164 houses for 205 families. The main job of people in the village is animal raising and agriculture, and the village has a production field of about 266 ha, with 136 ha of rice fields, and the capacity to produce 588 tons worth 882 million kip (US$84,000). The cash crop plantation area has 16 ha, with a production capacity of 44 tons per year worth 204 million kip (US$19,429). Many villagers generate a good income from selling handicrafts, such as woven sticky rice baskets, and can weave up to 630 baskets per day, or 19,680 worth 39 million kip (US$3,714) in six months. Recently, four villages in Khammuan province have been declared cultural villages, including Ban Phonsitha in Thakhek district, Ban Tueng in Xebangfay district and Ban Khounngueng in Hinboun district.
What is required, I wonder, to be a “cultural family” or a “cultural village”? I wonder if this chap, who I met in Muang Sing about 10 years ago, would qualify?
1 response so far ↓
1 Leif Jonsson // Sep 29, 2008 at 12:56 pm
This is perhaps a little funny-sounding, but has become quite common in China, where the gov’t sanctions particular places as “authentic cultural village” and the like. Such a designation becomes a draw for (domestic and international) tourism, government spending, and the like, and reinforces the cliche of China and its 55 ethnic peoples (and there is of course competition among the communities which of them gets designated as authentic, ethnic, and cultural). You can juxtapose Thailand (that officially registers only Thai, the rest of them are kind of alien immigrants, regardless of what history they may have), Laos (with its three kinds of Lao-by-altitude), and Vietnam, that officially has 54 peoples who are all joined (rhetorically) in the struggle against foreign aggression) — the three countries are similar in many ways but come to very different national narratives about identity and culture. But this story from Laos in 2006 is interesting for focusing the headline on cultural villages and then going on to talk about the eonomic productivity of the place (real culture people are no slackers, they can weave x-many baskets in a day that is then multiplied by 180 and given a good dollar-figure). Was there any kind of follow-up in Laos, are places still culture villages? Was this along lines separate from the Lao-Sung, -Thoeng, -Lam?
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