The theung – Wikipedia

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Representation of the three main groups of the population of Laos on that Luang Namtha: Lao Theung right.

The Lao theung (in Laotic: He was top , Ala-LC: La xo , Pronunciation: [Lower LʰɤIK] , “Berghang-Laoten”) are one of the three categories defined by the government in the Laos population. These are not primarily ethnic, but topographically defined according to the habitat. [first] Lao Theung includes the peoples, which typically settle at the medium height of mountain slopes and on the plateau of Laos. At 23% (as of 2005) they represent the second largest main group of Laos population. [2]

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The division also implicitly go hand in hand with differences in language, settlement history and traditional way of life. The peoples listed to the Lao Theung category already settled in the area of ​​today’s Laos before today’s majority ethny of the Tai-language Lao (or Lao Loum) immigrated. They mainly speak Austroasian languages ​​(Mon-Khmer) and traditionally practice fire tobogganing field construction. [first] [3]

The population of today’s Laos until the 1st millennium AD-the so-called proto-lao-was presumably ethnically related to today’s Lao Theung. The monumental urns at the level of the stone jugs were most likely their creations. From the 9th or 10th centuries, the Lao LouM (Tai peoples, mainly the ethnic Lao) moved from southern China and Northwest Vietnam to the area of ​​today’s Laos, whereby the traditional population from the lowlands and the valleys to the mountains Replaced. [3]

The traditional name of the Tai-Lao for the Lao Theung was Khāla ( Kill ), originally a general name of the Tai for other peoples, which later also received the derogatory meaning “slaves” or “wild”. [4] Vietnamese, Cambodian, Siamese, Lao and Chinese were hunting for the peoples of the highlands to enslave them. But there was also slavery from the Lao Theung, so. B. the brao members of their neighboring peoples. [5] Relatives of tribes of the LU, Lamet and Khmu were the princes of the princes and are still poorly paid workers today. Some tribes of Lao Theung accepted the Laotian language and Buddhism, others remained in their ethnic religions. Even today, some lowland dwellers describe the Lao Theung because of its darker skin color and other ethnicity as Kha .

The Lao Theung category-in addition to Lao Loum and Lao SOUNG-was introduced in the 1950s after the independence of Laos. It was also used by the Pro-Communist rebels of the Pathet Lao, who sought to win the minorities of the Lao Theung and Lao Soout for the national liberation struggle. The equality of the three ethnologically advertised equality of the Pathet Lao or the Laotian Revolutionary People’s Party as equal components of the Laotian nation had little practical effects after their takeover in 1975. [6]

The Lao Theung traditionally live from hunting and blind construction. Mostly settled – they build rice, tobacco, cotton, tea and coffee using a simple device or operate cattle breeding. They often live as large families in elongated pile dwellings. The villages are tightly organized. There are memory, bachelor and assembly, ghost and death houses. The buildings are built in art from wood, bamboo and braiding plant and have high, steep roofs.

The Lao Theung are widespread over the plateau of the entire country, but they are primarily located in the north and east. The term Lao theung summarize several dozen peoples. In the northern mountain regions, the Khmu, the largest sub -group of Lao Theung. The Katang, the second largest Lao-Hetung-Volk. The most important subgroups in Südlaos are They see her , OI of the Number and Souei . The largest variety of Mon-Khmer peoples can be found in the southern provinces, especially on the Bolaven plateau.

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  1. ↑ a b Jan Ovesen: All Lao? Minorities in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In: Christopher R. Duncan: Civilizing the Margins. Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of Minorities. NUS Press, Singapur 2008, S. 216.
  2. ↑ Martin Stuart-Fox: Historical Dictionary of Laos. 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham (MD)/Plymouth 2008, p. 191, entry Lao theung .
  3. ↑ a b Martin Stuart-Fox: Historical Dictionary of Laos. 3. Auflage, Scarecrow Press, Lanham (MD)/Plymouth 2008, S. liii.
  4. ↑ Martin Stuart-Fox: Historical Dictionary of Laos. 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham (MD)/Plymouth 2008, p. 151, entry Khāla .
  5. ↑ Martin Stuart-Fox: Historical Dictionary of Laos. 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham (MD)/Plymouth 2008, p. 311, entry Slavery .
  6. ↑ Jan Ovesen: All Lao? Minorities in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In: Christopher R. Duncan: Civilizing the Margins. Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of Minorities. NUS Press, Singapur 2008, S. 221.

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