LLR (book): Recherches Nouvelles sur le Laos / New Research on Laos

Title:  Recherches Nouvelles sur le Laos / New Research on Laos
Edited By:  Yves Goudineau and Michel Lorrillard
Publisher/Year:  École Française D'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), 2008
ISBN: 9782855396545
Price:  $100+

This book was published back in 2008.  If I had to describe it today, I'd say it was one gigantic cultural research journal.  Quite literally, at over 600 pages, double sided, single spaced, at full letter size pages, with essays and articles written by dozens of authors, it's a big book!  I kid you not, you could use it to do bicep curls for a good workout.

It's written in French and English with sixteen of the articles in English and eleven in French.  For readers who are more academically inclined when it comes to Lao studies, you'll definitely appreciate this book and more importantly you'll appreciate having so much info in one resource.  It covers so many topics.  However the editors have grouped the book into themed sections.  Of course some info is now out of date but for the most part it proves to be an incredible resource with some really interesting essays.  For example, a few of the articles that interested me personally were:

• The Historical Lao-Vietnamese Relationship Seen From the Lao PDR by Bruce Lockhar
• Lao Linguistics in the 20th Century and Since by N.J. Enfield
• The Modernization of Lao Language by Boike Rehbein

If you can find an affordable copy to buy, I'd be surprised as it's quite pricey and it must have had a very limited printing.  Full table of contents shown below for your interest.

Pages - Authors - Title

• 9 - 11 AUTEURS - CONTRIBUTORS
• 13 - 17 YVES GOUDINEAU & MICHEL LORRILLARD - LE LAOS, EN PERSPECTIVES PLURIELLES

L’HISTOIRE EN CONSTRUCTION / THE MAKING OF HISTORY

• 20 - 24 INTRODUCTION
• 25 - 35 THONGSA SAYAVONGKHAMDY & VIENGKEO SOUKSAVATDY - EXCAVATIONS OF CAVE SITES AT PHA PHEN
• 37 - 52 JOYCE C. WHITE & BOUNHEUANG BOUASISENGPASEUTH - ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE MEKONG : INTRODUCTION TO THE LUANG PRABANG PROVINCE EXPLORATORY SURVEY
• 53 - 63 ANNA KÄLLÉN - LAO PAKO
• 65 - 80 JULIE VAN DEN BERGH - SAFEGUARDING THE PLAIN OF JARS, AN OVERVIEW
• 81 - 111 MARIELLE SANTONI - LA MISSION ARCHÉOLOGIQUE FRANÇAISE ET LE VAT PHU:  RECHERCHES SUR UN SITE HISTORIQUE EXCEPTIONNEL DU LAOS
• 113 - 181 MICHEL LORRILLARD - POUR UNE GÉOGRAPHIE HISTORIQUE DU BOUDDHISME AU LAOS
• 183 - 208 ANDREW WALKER - BORDERS IN MOTION ON THE UPPER MEKONG:  SIAM AND FRANCE IN THE 1890S
• 209 - 235 VOLKER GRABOWSKY - THE EARLY STAGE OF FRENCH RULE IN MÜANG SING
• 237 - 258 SØREN IVARSSON - CULTURAL NATIONALISM IN A COLONIAL CONTEXT:  LAOS IN FRENCH INDOCHINA, 1893-1940
• 259 - 282 BRUCE LOCKHART - THE HISTORICAL LAO-VIETNAMESE RELATIONSHIP SEEN FROM THE LAO PDR

PROBLÉMATIQUES PATRIMONIALES / HERITAGE ISSUES

• 284 - 286 INTRODUCTION
• 287 - 337 SOPHIE CLÉMENT-CHARPENTIER - LES DÉBUTS DE VIENTIANE, CAPITALE COLONIALE
• 339 - 359 CHRISTIAN TAILLARD - DEVENIR DE L’ANCIEN SYSTÈME HYDRAULIQUE DE VIENTIANE:  LA PLACE DU PATRIMOINE TECHNIQUE ET DES HÉRITAGES PAYSAGERS DANS LE DÉVELOPPEMENT URBAIN
• 361 - 368 HARALD HUNDIUS - THE PRESERVATION OF LAO MANUSCRIPTS
• 369 - 384 JUSTIN MCDANIEL - DIDACTIC BUDDHIST MANUSCRIPTS OF LAOS AND NORTHERN THAILAND A CASE STUDY:  THE KAMMAVACA NISSAYA SADDA
• 385 - 402 CATHERINE CHORON-BAIX - LA DANSE, OBJET PATRIMONIAL : À PROPOS DES LAO DE FRANCE
• 403 - 429 CHRISTIAN CULAS & FRANCIS ENGELMANN - LE NOUVEAU MARCHÉ HMONG DE LUANG PRABANG : ÉTUDE DE L’INITIATIVE ÉCONOMIQUE LOCALE ET DES RÉSEAUX DES MONTAGNARDS AU LAOS

DYNAMIQUES SOCIALES / SOCIAL DYNAMICS

• 432 - 434 INTRODUCTION
• 435 - 452 N.J. ENFIELD - LAO LINGUISTICS IN THE 20TH CENTURY AND SINCE
• 453 - 464 BOIKE REHBEIN - THE MODERNIZATION OF LAO LANGUAGE
• 465 - 490 PATRICE LADWIG - BETWEEN CULTURAL PRESERVATION AND THIS-WORLDLY COMMITMENT: MODERNIZATION, SOCIAL ACTIVISM AND THE LAO BUDDHIST SANGHA
• 493 - 505 RICHARD POTTIER - SYNCRÉTISME ET THÉRAPIE AU LAOS
• 507 - 531 GRANT EVANS - LAO PEASANT STUDIES TODAY
• 533 - 557 OLIVIER EVRARD - ATTÉNUATION ET PERPÉTUATION DES FRONTIÈRES ETHNIQUES: NOTES SUR LA “TAÏSATION” DES POPULATIONS KHMOU DU NORD-LAOS
• 559 - 578 GUIDO SPRENGER - DO THE RMEET HAVE CLANS?
• 579 - 593 VANINA BOUTÉ - CULTES AUX ESPRITS ET BOUDDHISME CHEZ LES PHOUNOY DU NORD-LAOS
• 595 - 620 IAN BAIRD - THE CASE OF THE BRAO: REVISITING PHYSICAL BORDERS, ETHNIC IDENTITIES AND SPATIAL AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION IN THE HINTERLANDS OF SOUTHERN LAOS AND NORTHEASTERN CAMBODIA
• 621 - 638 VATTHANA PHOLSENA - ENTRE PASSÉ VÉCU ET PASSÉ RÉÉCRIT:  LES DÉBUTS DE LA RÉVOLUTION AU SUD-LAOS (1945-1949)
• 639 - 663 YVES GOUDINEAU - L’ANTHROPOLOGIE DU SUD-LAOS ET L’ORIGINE DE LA QUESTION KANTOU
• 665 - 678 RÉSUMÉS / ABSTRACTS