Revolutionaries and Reformers in Lao Buddhism

Laos remains one of the few officially socialist countries in the world. Once a Buddhist kingdom, its involvement into the Vietnam War, the communist revolution of 1975 and the subsequent introduction of reformed socialism have deeply affected Buddhism, the religion of the ethnic majority. With a historical and anthropological focus on the religious field in the capital Vientiane, the book follows these transformations and extrapolates the ruptures and continuities of Buddhist religious life from 1958 to the present. Focusing on the intertwined fields of ethics, ritual gift exchange and the Buddhist sangha’s relationship to the Lao state, the study takes a detailed look at the change of religious practices in an urban setting.

Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany