Heritage and the Making of Political Legitimacy in Laos

The book talk

Phil Wilcox is the author Heritage and the Making of Political Legitimacy in Laos. The Past and Present of the Lao Nation, published by Amsterdam University Press in the IIAS Publication Series 'Asian Heritages'.

Cultural heritage is a significant driver of political legitimacy in one-party socialist state Laos. This lecture highlights how this process works and is understood, exploring how heritage is central to claims of national identity and legitimate governance of Laos in the contemporary world.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is nearly fifty years old, and one of very few one-party socialist states in the world. This lecture considers how cultural heritage is central to the security of that political system. It outlines how narratives of cultural heritage have much to do with claims of what it means to be a citizen of Laos in 2021, and the right to govern the country and population.

Based on long term ethnography in Luang Prabang, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, Dr Wilcox considers selective versions of history in the Lao national story: what is emphasised, what is omitted, for what purposes, and to whom this is important. She outlines what discourses of heritage and national identity mean for ethnic minorities in Laos, which is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world and also one of the world’s poorest nations. Dr Wilcox concludes with considering how political legitimacy in Laos faces new challenges as the country is impacted increasingly by the rising influence of China.

The speaker

Phill Wilcox is a Research Associate in the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany. She completed her PhD in social anthropology at Goldsmiths, the University of London in 2018, which focused on heritage and political legitimacy in Laos. Her monograph, Heritage and the Making of Political Legitimacy in Laos. The Past and Present of the Lao Nation (October 2021) is published by Amsterdam University Press in the IIAS Publication Series 'Asian Heritages' Her post-doctoral research investigates perceptions of China as a driver of development in Laos and the global South.