Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos Since 1975 [Paperback]

Grant Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Communist revolutions in this century have suppressed existing ritual and symbolic structures and invented new ones. Armed with new flags, new national celebrations, or new school textbooks, they have attempted to reconstruct social memory. This fascinating work of political anthropology examines the case of Laos from the heady days of the 1975 revolution to the more sober "post-socialist" present. Grant Evans traces the attempt at ritual and symbolic change in Laos, and the recent reemergence of older and deeper cultural structures, while identifying what has perhaps been irretrievably lost. In this challenging study of the cultural consequences of failed total revolution, Evans reaches some striking conclusions concerning the nature of social memory, cultural possibilities foregone, and the need for cultural continuity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824820541
• ISBN-13: 978-0824820541
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,724,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, far more insightful than the title suggests, December 31, 2002

By 

Robert H. Wilson (San Deigo, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos Since 1975 (Paperback)

I have to admit I had noticed this book in the book stores long before I ever bought it. I was looking for something that would bring Lao politics and cultural insights together (by "Lao" I mean all the people of Laos,) and this appeared to be a rather dry account of current Lao politics. How wrong I was. The book turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. It brings together insights about Lao culture and the thinking of Lao people from the whole spectrum of Lao society, Lao politics both before and after the revolution, and gives enormous insights into how the cultural and political landscape of Laos have influenced each other. For a book that claims to be about the politics of Laos, very deep cultural insights are given, yet remain relevant to the subject of the book as Mr. Evans illustrates how the revolution influenced the culture of Laos and (far more often) how Lao culture shaped the course of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in the past decade-and-a-half. Furthermore, he gives us a certain amount of insight into the royal Lao government.

The book does not contain the same wit and human interest as "Stalking the Elephant Kings," but there was never any suggestion that it would. Despite having fewer personal anecdotes (not that it didn't have a fair number,) I found this book even more insightful.

The book answered a number of questions I had always had about Laos that several other books, and three weeks in the country, could not answer. I recommend it to anyone interested in this mysterious country, even casual tourists or business people investing in Laos.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Taste and Less Filling, March 24, 2006

By 

H. Campbell (houston, texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Politics of Ritual and Remembrance: Laos Since 1975 (Paperback)

Mr. Evans' slight volume focuses narrowly on the extent of the Lao Communist party's efforts to transition from dogmatic socialist to quasi-dogmatic proto-capitalist state. He argues somewhat persuasively that the pre-revolution royal-Buddhist diad never left the public's consciousness and has been supplanted by rituals that bespeak of these roots, albeit in the absence of a functioning monarchy. He states that the influence of Thailand, and particularly the Thai royal family, has to a large extent made the ruling LPDR's social dictates irrelevant; Thailand is their larger, older, more experienced Buddhist brother and will lead the recalcitrant commies to the promised land, dogma or no, but in typically understated Asian fashion.

I would liked to have seen more attention paid to the efforts of the LPDR to transform Lao society, as Mr. Evans wrote of in his Lao Peasants Under Socialism, but admittedtly that was only peripheral (and ancient history) to the theme of this book.