Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos

After a slow and difficult gestation, for a long time impeded by war, research on Laos has made today great strides in several fields of human and social sciences. This collection is intented to reflect this momentum by bringing together contributions from many of the researchers who have been active over this period. Their very diverse approaches represent the recent evolution of the field of “Lao studies”. They reveal an expanded vision of Laos, no longer confined by strict geographical, political or cultural borders, but resituated within the movement of long-term regional history. They present, from another side, the contemporary dynamics confronting the lao nation state, development issues urged on by globalization as well as questions of identity posed by the multi-ethnicity of the country. Renewed perspectives, problematic, and questionings are also brought to light by this collective volume.