Changing Lives in Laos: Society, Politics, and Culture in a Post-Socialist State

Academic research on Laos has grown significantly over the past decade. This growth in the field of Lao studies is well synthesized in Vanina Boute and Vatthana Pholsena's edited volume Changing Lives in Laos. Incorporating the expertise of an impressive range of scholars, the 15-chapter book is thematically grouped under four research themes: state formation and political legitimation; natural resource governance and agrarian change; ethnic minorities' engagement with modernity; and mobility and migration. Each of these prominent themes is comprehensively addressed and, while different chapters will naturally appeal to different readers, the book successfully delivers an encompassing analysis of contemporary processes of social, political and cultural change in Laos.