The new book Ethnic life in Northernmost Laos - A visual journey by Grégoire Schlemmer, IRD Antropologist, and co-edited by IRD Editions/Dokked Publishing has just been published. This book explores the diversity and cultural richness of the ethnic groups present in the northernmost province of Laos, Phongsaly.
Published in April 2023, Ethnic life in Northernmost Laos - A visual journey synthesizes four years of ethnological research by Grégoire Schlemmer, a specialist in religion and ethnicity in Laos and Nepal. This book also relies on numerous illustrations to highlight the cultural richness of the ethnic groups of Northern Laos.
Summary of the book:
Bordering China and Vietnam, Phongsaly is the northernmost and one of the most isolated provinces of Laos. A fascinating diversity of ethnic groups live here. In this Babel of fewer than 170,000 inhabitants, no less than thirty languages and dialects are spoken. Who are the Seng, the Muchi, the Pisu? One will search in vain for information on these groups, unknown to the outside world.
It reveals what makes each of these groups unique, but also what they share and what unites them, because through their interaction, they create a shared world. It is aimed at all curious people who are attracted by the different lifestyles of the people of Laos and more broadly of this vast mountainous and forested area at the crossroads between the Indic and Sinic civilizations.
For more information on the book, please visit its dedicated web page on IRD Editions: