Indigenous Peoples and Development in Laos: Ideologies and Ironies

Abstract

This article deals with the epistemological status of the notion of Indigenous People and its applicability in Laos. Based on fieldwork among indigenous Mon-Khmer groups in southern Laos, it argues that, due to ideological incompatibility between the Lao government and major development-financing organizations, this notion is as unhelpful for the practical purpose of promoting equal development as it is epistemologically muddled. The government’s recent move to replace its popular threefold classification of the nation’s ethnic minorities with a more refined one based on the recognition of indigenous ethnonyms has met with the approval of advocates of the Indigenous Peoples cause. It is argued, however, that this rapprochement of the government’s goals and indigenous interests is but illusory, and that government policy in practice works against increased self-determination of the indigenous minorities.

Keywords

• Laos
• anthropology
• development
• ethnic minorities
• indigenous peoples
• ideologies