Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

3-2024

Abstract

In this last chapter on state representation, we focus on a case where there has been an absence of demands. In Northeast Thailand, the large ethnic Lao population has not demanded cultural concessions from the state. In fact, not only have the demands been absent, but most people in the region see themselves as Thai (the broader national identity) or Isan (a moniker meaning “northeast”)—as opposed to ethnically Lao. The absence of the Lao identity has less to do with the absence of civic associations from the bottom up than with the absence of political representation from the top down. The Thai government employed a two-punch strategy. The first was the rapid elimination of the Lao ethnic identity from the state records around the turn of the 20th century. The second was the concerted effort to create a unified Thai identity through the national education system. The success of these two efforts manifests in the absence of demands today in spite of the group size in Northeast Thailand.

Keywords

Ethnic groups, Lao identity, Thailand

Discipline

Asian Studies | Political Science | Politics and Social Change | Race and Ethnicity

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

State institutions, civic associations, and identity demands: Regional movements in Greater Southeast Asia

Editor

Amy H. Liu & Joel S. Selway

ISBN

9780472903412

Identifier

10.3998/mpub.12333333

Publisher

University of Michigan Press

City or Country

Ann Arbor, MI

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12333333

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