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Toward Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Luang Prabang: The Perspectives of Lao Youth

Wed, February 15, 7:45 to 9:15pm EST (7:45 to 9:15pm EST), On-Line Component, Zoom Room 108

Proposal

Objectives and Perspectives

The inscription of Luang Prabang as a World Heritage Site in 1995 sparked a tourism boom in the town that eventually threatened the safeguarding of Luang Prabang's cultural heritage (CH) (Boccardi & Logan, 2007). More local efforts have been implemented to address this issue by actively engaging youth in the CH knowledge transmission process and sustainable community development.

With a growing recognition that CH values are integral to the town's identity, Luang Prabang World Heritage Office (2016-2018) and UNESCO (2017), organized a community-based inventorying that identified CH elements of the town. Analysis of interviews with ICH artisans reveals three main issues regarding CH transmission in the community. First is the lack of CH artisans and trainers who play an active role in transmitting CH knowledge. Second is the lack of future CH artisans or recipients of CH knowledge, primarily due to the youth's diminishing CH interest. Third is insufficient interventions to promote knowledge transmission in formal and non-formal education. This includes a low amount of CH information resources available to the public, a growing need to adapt CH knowledge and information in the school curriculum, and a necessity to establish cultural spaces for non-formal learning of CH, including a lack of training activities and training materials.

The data presented here is part of a larger study on Luang Prabang youth participating in a Youth on Promoting Sustainable Development and Safeguarding Cultural Heritage. The participants received training on the concepts and the practices involving CH, the importance of community involvement in safeguarding CH, and their linkages with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They also learned about the important role of youth in recreating their local CH and safeguarding community heritage. In this paper, we present early findings of interviews with 23 participants expressing strong motivation for safeguarding and developing CH for the new generations.

Methods

This qualitative study interviewed 23 Lao youth aged 14-31 years old who are interested in safeguarding CH in their locality (Table 1). Using a semi-structured cognitive-clinical interview format, the youth were asked questions about their 1) experience in preserving or conserving the CH of interest and 2) perceived challenges or threads in preserving or conserving the CH. Once transcribed, data was coded "bottoms-up," where themes and coding categories emerged from data patterns. For example, one code categorizes participants' prior experiences in preserving or conserving the ICH are also coded. For instance: "teaching others our tribal music," "volunteering at the youth center on merit-making traditions," and "designing local silk sarong to attract young generations.”

Findings

Twenty-three participants interviewed showed interest in various tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Luang Prabang (Table 2). In participating in the Youth Forum, youth reasoned that they wanted to safeguard their local cultural heritage for future generations. Furthermore, they wanted to find ways to make these cultural heritages relevant to the new generations and advocate for CH appreciation. Other reasons for joining are that they wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about Luang Prabang's local heritages and be a part of an active youth network in safeguarding CH.

For example, Torsin (M) appreciated his village’s local wisdom of the "Nam-pu” recipe, a fermented rice paddy crab sauce. He said, "I fear that the traditional wisdom would be diminished and changed because of modernism. I feel like my role is to create the inventory for the old wisdom and advocate for safeguarding this traditional knowledge. I hope to join this program to vocalize my village's traditions to others to preserve the knowledge.” Torsin also acknowledged the business opportunity of Nam-pu. He said, “Nampu is very popular among Laotians and has high demand because it can only be made in July.” He wanted to pursue further research on Nam-pu and commercialize it to promote his village delicacy.

Similarly, Nisa (F) was interested in weaving and traditional craft. She aims to apply traditional weaving techniques to create modern house décor pieces. “I always see my parents and family weave, and I want these beautiful pieces to be more accessible to the new generations. The imported products are now more attractive for younger gens.” Nisa also pointed out the challenges of the traditional weaving products that it couldn't keep up with the design and packages. She aspired to conduct user research on the younger generations and innovate with traditional crafts. She said, “our products are good and made by our people. Our people should also be proud of them and support the local economy.”

Like other new generations, Nid (M) wasn’t interested in traditional pottery and came to Luang Prabang to work as a waiter as the city heavily relies on tourism. However, during COVID-19, he was out of a job. “I was at home doing nothing, but my senior was already working on pottery, so I joined.” Nid viewed that new generations are not interested in local wisdom and leave their village for economic opportunities in a bigger city. Now that he was savvy with social media, he learned to sell his coffee mug and vases through Facebook. Nid started a Facebook page and learned about SEO to reach his targeted audience. He revealed, "I paid 50,000 kips for a Facebook advertisement. Now I can sell my pottery, and I have 200 likes."

Discussion and Conclusion

The Lao youth shared their common aspiration for preserving the local wisdom while translating the knowledge to be more relevant to the future generation. They acknowledge their generations’ diminishing in Luang Prabang’s CH interest and see their role in contributing to the local development and prosperity. The story of Nisa shows how she acted as a bridge between traditional CH and modernity. Youth shared the energy and passion for addressing CH issues and concerns in their locality. Torsin and Nid's examples show youth affinity for information and communication technologies to research and network for modern knowledge and business opportunities. Youth perceive themselves as agents of positive social change that will yield greater economic and social well-being for generations.

Authors