The Formation of “Lao Nation” with Lao Language as a “Weapon”

Abstract

This paper intends to show how the Lao revolutionary forces, Pathet Lao (PL) used the Lao language (Lao) in their process of building up the Nation, in which the ethnic Lao had played a leading role. At the same time, it also examines the ideology they created to make Lao the national language, regardless of the fact that the ethnic Lao, who used it were not the majority of the population. In other words, this paper mainly analyzes the PL's policy on education and propaganda.To mobilize the people to their revolutionary movement, PL conducted a vigorous literacy campaign in their liberated zone. Since around 1964, they began to carry out the policy of promoting Lao among their people and developing the languages of the minority people. However, although among the minority languages, only the Hmong language was given to literation, PL did not actually intend to promote the minority languages to the same level as Lao. So, until the end of 1960's, Lao became the only medium of instruction for all levels of the PL schools and, served as the national language in a way.On the other hand, it was the moral education that supported this institutional superiority of Lao in ideology. In PL's textbooks, Lao was regarded as the heritage of their ancestors who also included the heroes of the minorities, and love for the Lao was regarded as the way to reach love for the nation. Here, literacy of Lao was regarded as the base of all kinds of progress, and a means for all people to have an equal opportunity for progression. Furthermore, while some textbooks illustrated each minority like a member of the big “Laos” family, they also suggested the dominance of “progressive” ethnic Lao. Since the textbooks written in Lao were virtually the essence of political education, Lao became the foundation on which to form a nation by conveying the PL political ideology to ethnically divergent peoples.Moreover, in the area of Royal Lao Government (RLG), which had a tradition of “colonial and slavish” French education, the PL's propaganda that emphasized on “Lao language education” as “national” education attracted many people, who had been struggling to rise up to the “language nationalism” to support PL's movement.As a result, Lao was selected as and became the only “national language”. This also served as the means to create the nation by taking two forms. To the PL liberated zone, it meant to infiltrate the thought of ethnic Lao's superiority into their minds, and to the RLG area, it meant to stimulate the growing consciousness of the “Lao language nationalism”.