Lao scholars abroad seeking worldlines at home: Education in the West as pilgrimage from post-revolutionary Laos

South East Asia Research

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 89-118

  Mayes, Warren ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Cosmopolitanism; Development; Education; Elites; Laos; Pilgrimage

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL INFLUENCE; EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; ELITE POLITICS; NATIONAL IDENTITY; NATIONALISM; SOCIAL STATUS;

ASIA; EURASIA; LAOS; SOUTHEAST ASIA;

EID: 34247867905     PISSN: 0967828X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5367/000000007780420525     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Tan literally means to 'keep up with' or to stay 'in touch with' the world, lok, and is similar to the more commonly used term tan samai, modem, meaning literally 'to keep up with the era'. Tan lok has a slightly different nuance. In addition to being progressive, it means to lack naivety about the wider social world. It refers to an 'ability' to decipher when one is being deceived and to prevent oneself from being taken advantage of.
2. See the discussion in Souknilundon Southivongnorath (2004), 'Alone in the world: a Lao student's challenge abroad', Vientiane Times, 22 July, p 12.
3. Kimina Lyall (2003), 'Asia less willing to suffer sons of the fathers', The Australian, 29-30 November, p 14.
4. Martin Stuart-Fox (2004), Politics and Reform in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Political Economy of Development Working Paper No 1, Program on Civil Society and Governance, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, p 6.
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8. Wyatt, supra note 8, at p 9.
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16. Scholarships are provided by Australia, the UK, Brunei Darussalam, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand, USA and Vietnam. See LaoPYS (2004), Scholarships and International Exchange Programs for Lao Students, Website: http:// www.geocities.com/laopys/scholarship4laostudents.htm (accessed 23 January 2006).
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38. Pseudonyms have been used to preserve the anonymity of informants.
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50. AusAID, supra note 44.
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69. James Ferguson (1999), Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, p 212.