Differentiated Origins: Trajectories of Transcultural Knowledge in Laos and Beyond (Essay‪)‬

Transcultural Knowledge The Government of Laos currently recognizes forty-nine different ethnic groups, a large number not only in relation to its population of about six million, but also in regard to percentage. Only a little more than half of the population identifies as Lao. This diversity always posed a challenge for the creation of a modern nation state (Evans 1998; 2003; Pholsena 2002; Tappe 2008). While ethnic differentiation moved from the ritual enactment of hierarchy towards an official rhetoric of equality (see Aijmer 1979; Stuart-Fox 1996, p. 67; Platenkamp 2010), its concurrent forms of transcultural communication remain an integral part of the modern Laotian state.