Laos: Memory and Positionality 40 Years after 1975

• In Event: Embodying Memories in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Diaspora - Sponsored by the Thailand/Laos/Cambodia Group

Abstract

It is over 40 years since the Royal Lao Government (RLG) fell from power and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) was officially established by the pro-Vietnamese communist Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. This major political transition, while not initially as dramatic as the fall of Saigon or the fall of Phnom Penh, nevertheless led to the often traumatic exodus of hundreds of thousands of political refugees to neighboring Thailand, many of whom subsequently migrated to “third countries”, especially the United States, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Others still remain in Thailand, either with Thai citizenship or not. Unsurprisingly, the ways that people remember what happened in 1975 depends greatly on their political positionality and personal experiences. Those on the “winning” side frequently remember events fondly, while many on the “losing” side remain bitter. It is, however, more complicated than this; the descendants of those who fled Laos often have yet another view, seeing 1975 not as the end of their time in Laos, but rather as the beginning of their families’ new lives in the West. Some are celebrating the 40th anniversary in ways that their parents could have hardly imagined years ago. Moreover, the children of those who remained in Laos see things quite differently than their parents. In this paper, I examine how positionality, in its various forms, has greatly affected the ways that different groups of people from Laos have come to understand Laos’ transition in 1975.

Author

• Ian G. Baird, University of Wisconsin-Madison