Sedentism in the Mekong Region

Under the title “Sedentism in the Mekong Region” an international conference was held at Chiang Mai University on December 1 and 2.

“Sedentism” is the term archaeologists use to describe the process of settling down to live in groups for periods of time.

During two days a number of invited students and academics lectured on a wide range of topics related to migration, archeology, settlement, health and citizenship issues of minority people in North Thailand and Laos. The lectures were not longer than half an hour.

Amongst the speakers were Prof. Charles Keyes, Social Antropologist at the University of Washington in Seattle,  Prof. Yves Goudineau, Director  of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in Vientiane and Prof. Grant Evans, associate researcher at the Department of Anthropology, National Academy of Social Sciences in Vientiane.

Unfortunately I was only able to attend the morning session on the first day and the afternoon session on the second day.

The conference opened with a keynote speech of Prof. Grant Evans on the Tai invasion of Southeast Asia.

Very interesting was the contribution of Dr. Oliver Pryce, an archeologist at the Oxford University, on “Vestiges of furnaces in the uplands of Laos” which was about iron production in a remote area of Laos. A number of iron furnaces were found in a very sparsely populated area which indicates that this place had been a major centre of iron production in the past with interesting implications for the social organization that production on that scale must have necessitated.  

Another outstanding contribution was the lecture by Dr. Audrey Bochaton, Geographer at the Institute of Research for Development and Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, about the trade of medicinal plants between Hmong communities in Laos and Hmong communities in the United States, France and Australia.

Very enjoyable and interesting was the lecture of Dr.Amporn Jirattikorn of Chiang Mai University about the Shan insurgency in Shan State, Myanmar, the migration of Shan people to Thailand and the use of digital media in the Shan insurgency.

Finally, I very much enjoyed the closing lecture of Prof. Keyes on Places and Spaces.

All in all, two very interesting days, very well organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Chiang Mai University.