Lao people

Lao

Khene player in Isan
Regions with significant populations
Thailand:    19 million (Isan) 2 million (Lao) Laos:    4 million USA:    206,000 Vietnam:    169,000 Cambodia:    85,000 France:    50,000 Myanmar:    25,000 Canada:    17,000 Australia:    14,000 Argentina:    2,000
Languages
Lao, Isan, Thai and English
Religion
Predominantly Theravada Buddhist, with strong animist tradition
Related ethnic groups
Thais and other Tai ethnic groups

The Lao are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The vast majority of Lao people live in either Laos (approximately 4 million) or Thailand (approximately 19 million, 18.7 million Isan Lao and 0.4 million immigrant Lao). The Lao of Thailand are concentrated in the Isan region, although there are many migrant workers from Isan working in other parts of the country, especially in Bangkok. The Lao speak various closely related dialects of Lao and Isan, which are in turn often considered to be a single language. Many Lao speakers in Thailand prefer the term Isan to Lao, but there remain many close cultural bonds with the Lao people.

History

The history of the Lao is primarily the history of Laos and the history of Isan. These histories diverged in the 19th century, when the defeat of Vientiane's rebellion against Siam in 1827 led to large-scale population transfers from modern Laos to Isan and to some cities in Central Thailand including Bangkok, leaving Laos itself underpopulated. The breach was formalised by the Franco-Siamese treaties of 1893 and 1904, which made Isan and Laos the frontier between Siam and French Indochina.

Since then, both Thailand and Laos have carried out sustained campaigns to transform themselves into nation states centred on the Thai and Lao people respectively. In Isan this has meant the strengthening of the people's loyalties to Thailand, a process known as "Thaification". Many younger people in particular prefer to consider themselves Isan rather than Lao. "Isan", literally meaning "northeast" implies belonging to Thailand, while "Lao" connotes instead a loyalty to Laos. In Laos, by contrast, the same process has resulted in the promotion of the Lao language and culture as the national language and culture.

Distribution

There are around 3.6 million Lao in Laos, constituting approximately 60% of the population (the remainder are largely hill tribe people). The ethnic Lao of Laos form the bulk of the Lao Loum ("Lowland Laotians"). The Lao make up around a third of the population of Thailand: the main concentrations are in Isan (about 15 million people) and in Bangkok (where there are thought to be at least one million migrant Lao from Isan). There are other populations of ethnic Lao throughout Central Thailand, but these have been increasingly incorporated into the general Thai population. Small Lao communities exist in Cambodia, residing primarily in the former Lao territory of Stung Treng (Xieng Teng in Lao), and Vietnam. There are also substantial, unknown numbers of Lao overseas perhaps as many as 500,000 people. Most of the latter were refugees from Laos who fled during the Second Indochina War from the Pathet Lao. Places of asylum for the Lao refugees are the United States, France, Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, Singapore, and the United Kingdom; many also live in Argentina, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Switzerland and Myanmar.

It bears noting that the last official census conducted in Siam (later Thailand) in which "Lao" was a unique ethnic category showed almost half the population being "Lao" (though the category also included the Northern Thais). As part of Thaification, the "Lao" category was dropped and today it is unclear what percent of the population of Thailand is of Lao origin.

The 2000 United States census figure of 168,707 Laotians and the 2005 figure of 200,000 exclude Hmong, but include Mien, Thai Dam, Khmu and other groups in addition to the Lao, though these groups are very small and the Lao are the vast majority. The precise figure for the Lao ethnic group is therefore unknown.

Language

The Lao speak Lao and Isan. Each of these exists in various dialects. The Vientiane dialect has been adopted as the standard in Laos; there is no standard dialect of Isan, but most of its dialects are mutually comprehensible with Vientiane Lao. Most of the differences between Lao and Isan are due either to the greater use of Thai loan words in Isan, and to the adoption of different neologisms for concepts introduced since the division of Laos and Isan in the late 19th century (e.g. "motorcycle" is lot motasai in Isan, but lot jak in Lao).

Culture

Isan and Laos are both poor economically. The most common lifestyle is that of subsistence farming, with few major urban centres.

Laos and Isan share the Theravada Buddhist religion. The indigenous cuisines of Laos and Isan are very similar, placing much emphasis on fish sauce, chilli and sticky rice. However, Lao cuisine has also absorbed some French and substantial Vietnamese elements, while the greater poverty of the rural areas of Laos has led to a more restricted diet than in most of Isan.

Laos and Isan share the mor lam style of folk music. Since the 1980s mor lam from Isan has been a major cultural influence on Laos, as has Thai television.

See also

• Laotian American
• Laotian Canadian
• Laotian French

References

• Lao settlement patterns in the U.S.
• Reports on languages spoken in Laos and Thailand, from Ethnologue.com
• Thongchai Winichakul. Siam Mapped. University of Hawaii Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8248-1974-8
• Wyatt, David. Thailand: A Short History (2nd edition). Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-300-08475-7