{"product_id":"heritage-and-the-making-of-political-legitimacy-in-laos-the-past-and-present-of-the-lao-nation-9789463727020","title":"Heritage and the Making of Political Legitimacy","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Lao People’s Democratic Republic is nearly fifty years old, and one of the few surviving one-party socialist states. Nearly five decades on from its revolutionary birth, the Lao population continues to build futures in and around a political landscape that maintains socialist rhetoric on the one hand and capitalist economics on the other. Contemporary Lao politics is marked by the use of cultural heritage as a source of political legitimacy. Researched through long-term detailed ethnography in the former royal capital of Luang Prabang, itself a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site since 1995, this book takes a fresh look at issues of legitimacy, heritage, and national identity for different members of the Lao population. It argues that the political system has become sufficiently embedded to avoid imminent risk of collapse but suggests that it is facing new challenges primarily in the form of rising Chinese influence in Laos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Acronyms and Abbreviations \u003cbr\u003e Author’s Note \u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgements \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 1 Introduction – Heritage, State, and Politics \u003cbr\u003e Being Revolutionary, Being Lao \u003cbr\u003e Constructing the People’s Democratic Republic \u003cbr\u003e Socialist Ideology – Capitalist Politics \u003cbr\u003e Nation State Fragility \u003cbr\u003e Cultural Intimacy of\/in Laos \u003cbr\u003e Heritage With an Agenda \u003cbr\u003e Future Building in Laos \u003cbr\u003e Rising China \u003cbr\u003e The Book \u003cbr\u003e Future Directions \u003cbr\u003e References \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 2 Making the Past (Dis)appear: Heritage as Legitimacy in (Re)creating Luang Prabang \u003cbr\u003e Luang Prabang and the Creation of Nostalgia \u003cbr\u003e Dealing With ‘Difficult Pasts’ at the National Museum \u003cbr\u003e Heritage and Almsgiving \u003cbr\u003e ‘We Don’t Talk About It Openly’: Timelessness and Silence \u003cbr\u003e An Economy of Selective History \u003cbr\u003e A Suitably Idealized Past \u003cbr\u003e Conclusions: Heritages and Future Directions \u003cbr\u003e References \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 3 Hmong (Forever) on the Margins: Crypto-Separatism and the Making of Ethnic Difference \u003cbr\u003e Ethnicity in Laos \u003cbr\u003e Dreams of Hmong Statehood and Zomia \u003cbr\u003e ‘We Are Hmong’ \u003cbr\u003e Difference as Belonging \u003cbr\u003e Zomia as a Persistent Alternative \u003cbr\u003e Conclusions: Reproducing Societal Inequality? \u003cbr\u003e References \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 4 One World: One Dream: Voices of Pessimism, Strategies of Pragmatism and Facing the Rise of China \u003cbr\u003e ‘One World: One Dream’? \u003cbr\u003e ‘China Is Developed’ \u003cbr\u003e ‘We Will No Longer Have Jobs’ \u003cbr\u003e Pessimism With Ambivalence: The New ‘Things of the House’ \u003cbr\u003e Final Thoughts – One Belt: Multiple Paths? \u003cbr\u003e References \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 5 Conclusion – Long Live the Revolution? \u003cbr\u003e Royal and Revolutionary Heritage \u003cbr\u003e Essentializing the State \u003cbr\u003e The Dynamics of Authoritarianism \u003cbr\u003e Difficult Heritages \u003cbr\u003e Difference as (Not) Belonging \u003cbr\u003e On China and Changing Laos \u003cbr\u003e Final Reflections \u003cbr\u003e References \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography \u003cbr\u003e Index","brand":"Amsterdam University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49427753206103,"sku":"9789463727020","price":91.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/heritage-and-the-making-of-political-legitimacy-in-laos-the-past-and-present-of-the-lao-nation-9789463727020","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}