Heritage and the Making of Political Legitimacy in Laos

Phill Wilcox is a Research Associate in the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany. Her book chapter ‘Contested Heritage in Luang Prabang’ was published as part of the Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia in 2018.

• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations, Author's Note, Acknowledgements, 1 Introduction - Heritage, State, and Politics, Being Revolutionary, Being Lao, Constructing the People's Democratic Republic, Socialist Ideology - Capitalist Politics, Nation State Fragility, Cultural Intimacy of/in Laos, Heritage With an Agenda, Future Building in Laos, Rising China, The Book, Future Directions, References, 2 Making the Past (Dis)appear: Heritage as Legitimacy in (Re)creating Luang Prabang, Luang Prabang and the Creation of Nostalgia, Dealing With 'Difficult Pasts' at the National Museum, Heritage and Almsgiving, 'We Don't Talk About It Openly': Timelessness and Silence, An Economy of Selective History, A Suitably Idealized Past, Conclusions: Heritages and Future Directions, References, 3 Hmong (Forever) on the Margins: Crypto-Separatism and the Making of Ethnic Difference, Ethnicity in Laos, Dreams of Hmong Statehood and Zomia, 'We Are Hmong', Difference as Belonging, Zomia as a Persistent Alternative, Conclusions: Reproducing Societal Inequality?, References, 4 One World: One Dream: Voices of Pessimism, Strategies of Pragmatism and Facing the Rise of China, 'One World: One Dream'?, 'China Is Developed', 'We Will No Longer Have Jobs', Pessimism With Ambivalence: The New 'Things of the House', Final Thoughts - One Belt: Multiple Paths?, References, 5 Conclusion - Long Live the Revolution?, Royal and Revolutionary Heritage, Essentializing the State, The Dynamics of Authoritarianism, Difficult Heritages, Difference as (Not) Belonging, On China and Changing Laos, Final Reflections, References, Bibliography, Index.

''The book is written in an admirably accessible and personal style. Wilcox's anecdotes are pleasant to read and will ring a bell among readers familiar with Laos. This book will be on the reading list of scholars from different disciplines, including social sciences such as human geography and political science, who are interested in laos. It will also speak to anyone interested in the expansion of China in Southeast Asia.''- Rosalie Stolz, Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2024