Pavatsat Lao: Constructing a national history

South East Asia Research

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 361-386

  Lockhart, Bruce M ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

Ethnic minorities; Ethnography; Historiography; Laos

Indexed keywords

CIVILIZATION; CULTURAL HISTORY; DOCUMENTARY SOURCE; ETHNIC MINORITY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; LITERATURE REVIEW; NATION STATE; STATE BUILDING;

ASIA; EURASIA; LAOS; SOUTHEAST ASIA;

EID: 33845678494     PISSN: 0967828X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5367/000000006778881573     Document Type: Review

References (67)

1. Souneth Phothisane and Nousai Phoummachan (2000), Pavatsat Lao (Deukdamban-Pachuban) [Lao History (Ancient Times to the Present)], Ministry of Information and Culture, Vientiane.
2. Thongsa Sanyavongkhamdi et al (1989), Pavatsat Lao Lem III: 1893 theung Pachuban [Lao History Volume 3: 1893 to the Present]. Ministry of Education and Social Science Research Institute, Vientiane.
3. Martin Stuart-Fox (personal communication) has clarified that 'city-state' here should be understood in a fairly narrow sense of the term, namely that 'meuang had grown in wealth and power and that the capital[s] had grown to city size'.
4. See Craig Reynolds (1985), 'Feudalism as a trope or discourse for the Asian past with special reference to Thailand', in Edmund Leach et al, eds, Feudalism: Comparative Studies, Sydney Association for Studies in Society and Culture, Sydney, pp 136-154;
5. and Craig Reynolds (1987), Thai Radical Discourse: The Real Face of Thai Feudalism Today, Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca, NY.
6. In fact, one of the book's authors states conclusively elsewhere that the Ayudhyan system of ranks based on rice fields (literal or figurative) did not exist in Lao history. Lane Xang, he says, used the term than ('base' or 'power') rather than sakdina and measured it in gold, silver or cowrie shells. See Souneth Photisane (1996), 'The Nidān Khun Borom: annotated translation and analysis', PhD dissertation, University of Queensland, pp 355-356, 444, and 450, note 334.
7. In a recent overview of approaches to studying Lao history written specifically for Lao readers, Souneth makes an interesting comment regarding the five-stage Marxist periodization of history. 'Everyone in Laos understands this', he says, 'because almost every Lao learned about these social systems just after Liberation, especially theorists'. He goes on to emphasize the significance of the AMP, namely that it stresses the lack of a 'slave stage' in Asian history. This is the sum total of his discussion of Marxist history, which is listed as only one of a number of possible frameworks. See Souneth Photisane (2002), Virakam Chao Anouvong [King Anuvong's Heroic Battle], National Library, Vientiane, p 24.
8. The framework and terminology of 'clan-based meuang' and 'principality-like meuang' is in fact derived from Souneth's dissertation, but the periodization in the book has been pushed forward considerably. His thesis dates the first stage from the Bronze Age and the second from the middle of the first millennium CE, a more reasonable chronology (Souneth, supra note 5, at pp 342-348).
9. See, for example, Sisak Wanliphodom (Srisakara Vallibhotama) (1990), Isan: Chae Lakthan Borannakhodi Phlikchom na Prawatsat Thai [A Northeastern Site of Civilization: New Archaeological Evidence to Change the Face of Thai History], Sinlapa Watthanatham/Matichon, Bangkok.
10. These points are also discussed in Vatthana Pholsena (2004), 'The changing historiographies of Laos: a focus on the early period', Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol 35, No 2, pp 235-259. Vatthana and I have looked at Pavatsat Lao separately and through slightly different lenses, but we share many of the same interpretations regarding its basic assumptions.
11. David K. Wyatt and Aroonrut Wichienkeeo, eds and tr (1995), The Chiang Mai Chronicle, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, pp 5-8.
12. See Paul K. Benedict (1975), Austro-Thai Language and Culture, with a Glossary of Roots, Human Relations Area Files Press, New Haven, CT.
13. There is an overview of highland-lowland relations in Laos from a historical and cultural perspective in Goran Aijmer (1979), 'Reconciling power with authority: an aspect of statecraft in traditional Laos', Man, New Series, Vol 14, No 4, pp 734-749. Aijmer draws heavily on the work of Charles Archaimbault, who has studied this question in an anthropological framework. Amphay Doré, in his exhaustive study of the Lao sources on early history, has also discussed the Lao 'conquest' of territory inhabited by Austro-Asiatic speakers;
14. Amphay Doré (1987), 'Aux sources de la civilisation lao: contribution ethno-historique à la connaissance de la culture Louang-Phrabanaise', mémoire pour le Doctorat d'État, Metz, Cercle de Culture et de Recherches Laotiennes (reprint), pp 305-317, 669-670. My thanks to Vatthana Pholsena for giving me access to a copy of this work.
15. The hero of the eponymous Thao Hung Thao Cheuang epic is here assumed to be a leader of this multi-ethnic 'Lao people' who struggled for their unification. Several scholars, however, have noted that the Kmhmu people (descendants of the original Mon-Khmer-speaking inhabitants conquered by Tai-speaking migrants) claim him as a specifically 'Kmhmu' hero. See, for example, Michel Ferlus (1979), 'Le récit Khamou de Chuang et ses implications historiques pour le Nord-Laos', Asie du Sud-Est et Monde Insulindien (ASEMI), Vol 10, Nos 2-4, pp 327-365,
16. and William A. Smalley (1965), 'CiaK: Khmu? culture hero', in Felicitation Volumes of South-East Asian Studies Presented to His Highness Prince Dhaninivat, Siam Society, Bangkok, pp 41-54.
17. A collection of essays on the epic by Thai and Lao scholars is to be found in Suchit Wongthet, ed (1995), Thao Hung Khun Cheuang: Wiraburut Song Fang Khong [Thao Hung Khun Cheuang: Hero on Both Sides of the Mekong], Sinlapa Watthanatham/Matichon, Bangkok.
18. The concept of mandalas was of course popularized by O. W. Wolters (1999), History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives, rev ed. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Singapore and Ithaca, NY.
19. On the segmentary state model applied in a South East Asian context, see Sunait Chutintaranond (1990), 'Mandala, "segmentary state", and politics of centralization in medieval Ayudhya', Journal of the Siam Society, Vol 78, No 1, pp 89-100.
20. Martin Stuart-Fox (1998) looks at Lane Xang within the mandala framework: The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang: Rise and Decline, White Lotus, Bangkok.
21. See Charles Archaimbault (1967), 'Les annales de l' ancien royaume de S'ieng Khwang', Bulletin de l'École Frančaise d'Extrême-Orient, Vol 53, No 2, pp 557-673,
22. and Snit Smuckarn and Kennon Breazeale (1988), A Culture in Search of Survival: The Phuan of Thailand and Laos, Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, New Haven, CT.
23. The forced relocation and the instructions about livelihood are found in Lao chronicles, but with no mention of benevolent motives on Fa Ngum's part (Souneth, supra note 5, at p 176).
24. See the discussion of how these heroes are being commemorated in Martin Stuart-Fox's contribution to this issue.
25. Michel Lorrillard has noted the 'tendency [in Lao historiography] to forget the importance' of local and regional differences among the various components of the Lane Xang kingdom and points out that the general outline of Lao history as it has been written is 'essentially based on Luang Phabang sources', while those from Vientiane and Champassak are 'overlooked'; Michel Lorrillard (1999), 'Quelques données relatives à l'historiographie lao', Bulletin de École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Vol 86, p 222.
26. Charles Archaimbault (1961), for one, has attempted to rectify this with his work on the Champassak chronicles: 'L'histoire de Campasak', Journal Asiatique, Vol 249, No 4, pp 519-595.
27. A recent synthesis of the available Western-language historiography on Laos emphasizes the separate identity and history of its various components: Peter and Sanda Simms (1999), The Kingdoms of Laos: Six Hundred Years of History, Curzon, Richmond, Surrey.
28. I discuss the narrative of Lao-Vietnamese relations in this and other texts in 'The historical Lao-Vietnamese relationship seen from the LPDR', in Michel Lorrillard and Yves Goudineau, eds (forthcoming), Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris.
29. Keith Taylor (1998), 'Surface orientations in Vietnam: beyond histories of nation and region', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol 57, No 4, pp 949-978.
30. Vietnamese historians writing on Laos generally assume the long-term existence of a 'centralized state', although they argue that it was less unified and ultimately less powerful than its pre-colonial Vietnamese neighbour. See, for example, Nguyen Vǎn Huyen (1994), 'Môt sô dǎc diem trong lich sú nuróc Lào Lan Xang' [Some characteristics of the history of the country of Lane Xang], Tap Chí Nghiên Cúru Ljch Súr [Journal of Historical Research], No 4, pp 66-70.
31. The historiographical treament of these movements is also discussed in Bernard Gay (2002), 'Millenarian movements in Laos, 1895-1936: depictions by modern Lao historians', in Mayoury Ngaosrivathana and Kennon Breazeale, eds, Breaking New Ground in Lao History: Essays on the Seventh to Twentieth Centuries, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, pp 281-295. Gay's focus, however, is specifically on the interpretations of the millenarian aspects of the unrest. Here I am more interested in the way in which they are cast in an explicitly 'national' context.
32. This topic is the focus of Bruce Lockhart (2004), 'Narrating 1945 in Lao historiography', in Christopher Goscha and Søren Ivarsson, eds, Contesting Visions of the Lao Past: Lao Historiography at the Crossroads, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, pp 129-163.
33. For additional observations on this view of prehistory, see Vatthana, supra note 9.
34. There is no discussion in the text of the term 'Kha' and the implications of its use to denote upland peoples. Certainly, the complexity of the Tai socio-political hierarchies studied, for example, by Georges Condominas would raise serious questions about the overly simplistic and harmonious picture given in Pavatsat Lao and the issues that are left untreated; see 'Essai sur l'évolution des systm̀es politiques thaïs', reprinted in Georges Condominas (1980), L'espace social à propos de l'Asie du Sud-Est, Flammarion, Paris, pp 259-316.
35. The term Kha is analysed in Frank Proschan (1996), 'Who are the "Khaa"?' Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of Thai Studies, Chiang Mai, Theme IV/Vol 1, pp 391-414.
36. Katay D. Sasorith (1959), 'Historical aspects of Laos', in René de Berval, ed, Kingdom of Laos, France-Asie, Saigon, pp 28, 29, 30.
37. For further discussion of Katay's narrative in the broader context of nationalist historiography, see Martin Stuart-Fox (2003), 'Historiography, power, and identity: history and political legitimization in Laos', in Goscha and Ivarsson, eds, supra note 23, at pp 71-95;
38. and Grant Evans, ed (2000), 'Introduction', in Laos: Culture and Society, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pp 17-21.
39. Katay D. Sasorith (1953), Le Laos: son évolution politique; sa place dans l'Union Française, Berger-Levrault, Paris, pp 21-22. It was certainly a step forward for a prominent Lao intellectual and politician to recognize that Laos was meant to be a multi-ethnic nation. However, Katay clearly assumed that integration meant at least partial cultural assimilation of the minorities to the dominant Lao culture and that those who felt otherwise were 'chauvinists'. Moreover, he somehow felt that the task of integrating these minorities would be 'less complex' than the situation of the ethnic Lao in north-eastern Thailand under a Siamese-dominated government (p 21).
40. Maha Sila Viravong (2001), Phongsavadan Lao tae Bouhan theung 1946 [Lao Chronicle/History from Ancient Times until 1946], 3 ed, National Library, Vientiane, p 28.
41. An English translation of the original version of this text was published as Maha Sila Viravong (1964), History of Laos, Paragon Books Reprint Corporation, New York.
42. Sila Viravong's approach is also discussed in Stuart-Fox, supra note 26.
43. Tiao Khamman Vongkatlattana (1973), Phongsavadan Sat Lao: Khwam Penma khong Sat tae Deukdamban [A Chronicle/History of the Lao Nation: The Ancient Origins of the Nation], National Library, Vientiane.
44. An interesting contrast to these more scholarly histories is found in an elementary school history text published by the Royal Lao government, which states clearly that the 'original Lao' were primitive, unenlightened Kha who were driven up into the hills and mountains by new arrivals, although in this case the text refers to 'Malay Cham' and 'Khmer' who arrived before the Tai-speakers; Anonymous (nd), Phongsavadan Lao samlap San Pathom [Lao History for Primary Levels] Nai Sai, Vientiane, pp 1-3.
45. Anonymous, supra note 29, at pp 6-19; this narrative takes the early Tai from Mongolia to Khun Boulom's foundation of a Lao kingdom.
46. Vatthana, supra note 9, covers the 'trope of migration' in detail. While no serious historian would now trace the origins of the Tai-speakers to anywhere remotely near Mongolia, it is widely accepted that those who populated Laos and points west migrated from a probable homeland straddling the Sino - Vietnamese border region.
47. Quang Chính (1963), 'Vân dê câu tao nôi dung lich sur Viêt Nam theo quan diêm da dân tôc' [The problem of writing Vietnamese history from a multi-ethnic perspective], Tap Chí Nghiên Cúu Lich Su[Journal of Historical Research], No 50, pp 8-9.
48. I have discussed this matter more thoroughly in an unpublished paper: Bruce Lockhart (1985), 'Looking down from a tightrope: ethnology in Vietnam'.
49. Yves Goudineau (2000), 'Ethnicité et déterritorialisation dans la péninsule indochinoise: considérations à partir du Laos', Autrepart, No 14, p 24. It is interesting that in a survey of current trends in Lao historiography presented at a seminar in Thailand, Souneth Photisane is critical of what he calls 'colonialist history', which 'stresses that those natives who are Kha or Khom [a term usually believed to refer to early Khmers, although this is not certain] are not Lao [and] that the Lao only came and attacked this territory [ie Laos]';
50. Souneth Photisane (2002), 'Naewnom nai kanseuksa prawatsat Lao samai boran' [A new trend in researching the ancient history of Laos], in Sarasawadee Ongsakul and Yoshiyuki Masuhara, eds, Kanseuksa Prawatsat lae Wannakam khong Klum Chatiphan Thai [Studies of History and Literature of Tai Ethnic Groups], Chiang Mai University, Bangkok, p 64.
51. I am grateful to Vatthana Pholsena for providing me with these two articles. Souneth's comment is also found in Souneth, supra note 6, at p 21.
52. Sisak Wanliphodom (Srisakara Vallibhotama) (1991), Sayamprathet: Phumlang khong Prathet Thai tangtae Yuk Deukdamban chontheung Samai Krung Siayutthaya Ratchanachak Sayam [Siam: Thailand's Historical Background from Prehistoric Times to Ayuthya], Sinlapa Watthanatham/ Matichon, Bangkok;
53. see also Sisak, supra note 8.
54. An excellent discussion of recent trends in Thai historiography is found in Thongchai Winichakul (1995), 'The changing landscape of the past: new histories in Thailand since 1973', Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol 26, No 1, pp 99-120; pp 107-109 focus on Srisakara's work.
55. Charles F. Keyes (1995), 'Who are the Tai? Reflections on the invention of identities', in Lola Romanucci-Ross and George A. De Vos, eds, Ethnic Identity: Creation, Conflict, and Accommodation, 3 ed, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA, p 150.
56. Suchit Wongthet (Sujit Wongthes) (1994), Khon Thai yu thi ni thi Usakhane [The Thais Were Always Here in Southeast Asia], Sinlapakorn University, Bangkok.
57. Earlier examples of this approach include Suchit Wongthet, ed (1987), Khon Thai yu thi nai bang? [Where Can Thai Be Found?] Sinlapa Watthanatham, Bangkok;
58. and Sisak Wanliphodom and Suchit Wongthet (1991), Thai Noi Thai Yai Thai Sayam [three terms referring to various Tai-speaking groups], Sinlapa Watthanatham/Matichon, Bangkok.
59. For the interest in 'Ur-Tai' culture, see, for example, Sisak Wanliphodom (1991), 'Khwamcheua reuang thaen nai Thai Dam: Sasana dangdoem khong khon Thai' [The belief in taen of the Black Tais: the primitive religion of the Thais], Muang Boran [Ancient City], Vol 17, No 3, pp 12-35.
60. To be fair, Srisakara has recently begun attempting to 'relocate' the original 'Siam' to the left bank of the Mekong, and even to argue that its inhabitants were not necessarily Tai-speaking, but proving these arguments will be an uphill climb; Sisak Wanliphodom (1997), 'Chao Sayam thi Wiangchan lae Isan neua pen phusang khwaen Sukhothai' [The Siamese in Vientiane and northern Isan were the founders of Sukhothai], in Suchit Wongthet, ed, Phlik Prawatsat Khwaen Sukhothai [Overturning the History of Sukhothai], Sinlapa Watthanatham/Matichon, Bangkok, pp 73-96.
61. Katay, supra note 27, at pp 16-17.
62. Souneth, supra note 6, at p 21;
63. he cites the work of Manich Jumsai as an example of the latter tendency. It is interesting to note that in the version of this text presented to a Thai audience (Souneth, supra note 34, at p 64), he uses the English term 'Taist' rather than 'Thaist' and includes only the point about Tai-speaking peoples, omitting the reference to including the Lao in 'Thai history'.
64. An example of Manich's work is Manich Jumsai (1971), History of Laos: From the Days of Nan-Chao Right Down to the Present Day Showing how the Thai/Lao Were Split up into Various Branches, Covering the Present Area of the South of China down to Malaya in the South and from Assam in the West to Tongking and Even Hainan in the East, Chalermnit, Bangkok.
65. This is also true, for example, of Srisakra's article on Tai Dam beliefs (supra note 37). Although his English subtitle and abstract make the normal distinction between 'Tai' and 'Thai', the latter is used consistently in the Thai text.
66. Vatthana, supra note 9, at p 250.
67. See the article by Vatthana Pholsena in this issue.