Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0213/02134.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 30KB | 490 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02134}
$Pretitle{258}
$Title{Laos
Chapter 4A.   Social Systems}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald P. Whitaker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{lao
village
laos
tai
social
household
ethnic
members
tribal
laotian}
$Date{1973}
$Log{Figure 5A.*0213401.scf
Figure 5B.*0213402.scf
}
Country:     Laos
Book:        Laos, A Country Study
Author:      Donald P. Whitaker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1973

Chapter 4A.   Social Systems

     The Kingdom of Laos in 1971 still lacked national social cohesion as it
had since the time of the first Laotian kingdom in the fourteenth century; it
was marked by great ethnic diversity and minimal links connecting the
different peoples to one another and to the nation as a whole (see figs. 5A
and 5B). The largest unit toward which most Laotians feel loyalty or identity
is the village, of which there were estimated to be approximately 9,400 in
1971-3,500 of them in areas outside the control of the Royal Lao Government.

[See Figure 5A.: Ethnolinguistic Groups of Laos]

[See Figure 5B.: Selected Tribal Groups of Laos]

     All of the more populous ethnic groups of Laos, based on the rough
estimates of population breakdown available in mid-1971, were found in greater
numbers beyond the borders of the kingdom than within it. This contributed to
preexisting centrifugal tendencies based on historical rivalries and enmities
that made difficult the forging of a unified national state (see ch. 3,
Historical Setting). The achievement of this goal was further hindered by the
difficult terrain, the relative absence of modern communications facilities, a
low level of urbanization, a short national history, low literacy rates, and a
plethora of mutually unintelligible languages and social arrangements (see ch.
2, Physical Environment and Population; ch. 7, Language, Communication, and
the Arts).

     Tending further to prevent a feeling of unity was the fact that for over
two decades the country has been split into two major warring factions. The
insurgent Lao Patriotic Front (Neo Lao Hak Sat-NLHS) was in control of
approximately two-thirds of the land and one-third of the people as of
mid-1971; the Royal Lao Government was in control of the remainder.

     The tendency of Laotian society to come apart has been exacerbated by the
armed intrusion of its North Vietnamese neighbor. This in large part has been
occasioned by the war between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North
Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and the use of Laotian
territory by North Vietnam as a sanctuary through which to transport men and
supplies. In counteraction, there has been substantial United States
involvement, resulting from that country's effort to keep North Vietnamese
forces from using Laos for their military advantage.

     This impingement of the Vietnamese conflict upon Laos has had a
tremendous effect upon Laotian society in all ways. For example, the number of
individual Laotian refugees who have reportedly received help from the royal
government and the United States in the decade since 1961 amounted to more
than 10 percent of the total population of the country. Many persons were
known to have been displaced more than once, and reports from refugees on
other persons who remained in NLHS areas indicated the probability of
substantial displacements in that zone also.

Ethnic Configuration

     Official Laotian terminology for the ethnic groups of Laos includes four
categories: Lao Lum, Lao Tai, Lao Theung, and Lao Sung. The Lao Lum (valley
Lao-ethnic Lao, commonly referred to simply as the Lao) are the largest single
ethnic group in the country, variously estimated at between one-third and
one-half of the population. They are settled along the Mekong River and its
principal tributaries. The Lao are a subgroup of the Tai people who originated
in southern China and have, over the past millennium, come to populate much of
southern Asia from Assam in northeastern India to Hainan Island.

     The Lao are more numerous outside the present borders of Laos than within
it. It was estimated that, in 1970, there were eight times as many Lao living
on the Thailand side of the Mekong as lived in all of Laos. Being the largest
ethnic group in Laos and having the most highly organized social and political
systems and the highest level of education of any of the Laotian peoples, the
Lao control the government and dominate that portion of trade and commerce not
in foreign hands. Also, their religion and culture are the most influential
and prevalent in the country.

     Laos also contains other Tai peoples, known as the Lao Tai, or tribal
Tai. The tribal Tai live in river valleys of the upland areas where they, like
the Lao of the plains, primarily grow irrigated rice. The tribal Tai also grow
dry rice and other crops by the slash-and-burn method on the mountain slopes.
The tribal Tai are for the most part non-Buddhist; they generally have avoided
the towns and have resisted the patterns that attracted some Lao, but certain
numbers of refugees have gone to urban areas. Although the tribal Tai are more
similar to the Lao than are any other minority people in the country, they
exhibit a difference in language and culture that is sufficient to make them
distinct from the Lao. Within the tribal Tai themselves, there are also
important ethnic and linguistic distinctions that divide the people into
different subgroups, for example, the Lu, Tai Nua, Tai Yuan, Black Tai (Tai
Dam), and Red Tai (Tai Daeng). Like the Lao, the tribal Tai have some formal
political ties that connect them with institutions beyond the village.

     The term Lao Theung (mountainside Laotian) embraces a number of different
tribal peoples who were formerly referred to in Lao by the pejorative term,
kha, meaning "slave." The Lao Theung live at higher altitudes than do the
tribal Tai. It is commonly believed that they originally dwelt in the lowlands
and gradually moved to the mountain slopes as Tao and tribal Tai took over the
valleys. The Khmu are the largest ethnic group classified as Lao Theung, but
the category also includes Tin, Lamet, Loven, and others. As far as is known,
Lao Theung people all speak languages of the Mon-Khmer language family, live
on the slopes of mountains, practice slash-and-burn agriculture (although some
also carry on irrigated farming), and have few or no political or social
institutions that extend beyond the village.

     During the French colonial period the Lao Theung tended to be ruled
indirectly through a chain of command that incorporated an ethnically based
hierarchy. Thus, it was not uncommon for a Lamet village chief to report to a
Lu tax collector, who in turn was responsible to a Lao canton chief, who was
subordinate to a Vietnamese official, who was under the direction of one of
the handful of Frenchmen charged with administering the province.

     The term Lao Sung (mountaintop Laotian) is used primarily to denote the
Laotian members of the Miao-Yao language family-that is, the Meo and the Man
(Yao). The Lao Sung live at high altitudes-over 3,500 feet-where they practice
slash-and-burn cultivation of rice and corn and grow opium for cash. The Lao
Sung are the most recent of the hill peoples to come to Laos, and they retain
many influences of their Chinese homeland in Yunnan Province. The Meo, the
major Lao Sung group, have a more highly developed social organization,
extending beyond the village, than do any other Laotian hill peoples except
the tribal Tai. Before many of them were displaced by the war in Laos, the Meo
because of their cash earnings from the sale of opium were also wealthier than
other hill peoples. The Meo also have the reputation for being better fighters
and more aggressive generally than any other indigenous group.

     On the mountainside, between the Lao Theung and Lao Sung, live small
groups of Tibeto-Burman speakers, among them the Akha, Lolo, Lisa, and Lahu
peoples. There were probably fewer than 10,00