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Vientiane: Transformations of a Lao landscape (Routledge Studies in Asia's Transformations) - Hardcover

Book 10 of 33: Routledge Studies in Asia's Transformations

Askew, Marc; Long, Colin; Logan, William

 
9780415331418: Vientiane: Transformations of a Lao landscape (Routledge Studies in Asia's Transformations)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0415331412 ISBN 13: 9780415331418
Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Providing insights into this neglected Southeast Asian city, this interesting book interprets Vientiane’s landscape - physical as well as imagined - as a reflection of key aspects of Lao geo-political history, the nature of Lao urbanism, and its critical relation to constructions of Lao identity in the contemporary period. It is argued that the patterns of change seen through Vientiane’s past embody the key political and economic processes and transformations impacting on the people of Laos.

The Lao urban past has rarely been an object of attention by scholars. Laos, in fact, is continually portrayed as a rural backwater, marginal to the dynamic trends affecting most of the Southeast Asian mainland. In contrast to these persistent and static portrayals of Laos as a tiny landlocked backwater, with no significant urban present or past, the authors aim to document, explain and evaluate the significance of the Lao urban landscape.

Focusing on the theme of Vientiane’s ‘marginality’ in its various forms, the book interprets this apparent marginality as an historically-produced phenomenon resulting from geo-politics dating from the pre-colonial period and extending into the post-colonial period. Drawing on a wide range of research materials, Vientiane is the first work of its kind on this ignored city.

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About the Author

Marc Askew is Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.

William Logan is Alfred Deakin Professor and holds the UNESCO Chair of Heritage and Urbanism in the School of History, Heritage and Society, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Colin Long is a lecturer in cultural heritage at the Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Routledge
Publication date
2006
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0415331412
ISBN 13 
9780415331418
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
288