Emerging public space in rural Laos

Abstract

While urban settings stand at the forefront in discussions about public spaces in socialist East-and Southeast Asia, rural public spaces in the region have been hitherto largely unexplored. Drawing on two different upland cases from the northern part of Laos, this contribution identifies local vernacular public spaces on the one hand, and emerging state-connected public spaces on the other. The latter will be argued to comprise: (1) statecontrolled public places, (2) public as opposed to private land, and (3) spaces in which the collective identity of the village in relation to the nation-state is displayed. We compare the sociality in vernacular public spaces with the sociality in state-connected public spaces, giving emphasis to socio-spatial practices and sonic dimensions. The contemporary transformation of public spaces in rural upland Laos can eventually be approached through the lens of the "fragmentation of space", to quote Lefebvre's felicitous expression, and allows original insights into spatial state-making practices and local efforts (with varying success) to relate to the state.

The end of bamboo houses in northern Laos

“…This lends themselves for being a temporary shelter for liminal dwelling periods. For more details on this category of building among the Khmu, see Évrard (2006, 125), Damrong Tayanin (1994, 17-18), Stolz (2021, 238-41), and Stolz and Petit (2020). 3 Foreign language terms, put in italics, are Khmu terms.…”

“…After the dismantling of their previous house, they had to move with their belongings into a temporary shelter for the duration of the construction. For the upcoming weeks, they would stay in a small workhouse, a workshop building that is an important vernacular public space and is used for certain ritual purposes (Stolz and Petit, 2020), where there is rarely enough space for cooking utensils, storage sacks, and persons at the same time; the spaces beneath the elongated roof at the front and under the roof were used as additional storage space. With their construction site immediately in front of the workhouse, their life and the rhythm of the house group was very much focused on the building process.…”