http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2006/08/30/the-invention-of-tradition-by-decree/ New perspectives on mainland Southeast Asia Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:28:26 +1100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2006/08/30/the-invention-of-tradition-by-decree/comment-page-1/#comment-561775 Leif Jonsson Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:56:48 +0000 http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/?p=228#comment-561775 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? 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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