The blossoming of Lao studies in recent years has been paralleled by the greatest institutional activity in decades. Leading the charge is the California-based Center for Lao Studies (CLS), founded in 2006, which oversees the International Conference on Lao Studies (ICLS) and publishes the Journal of Lao Studies. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Lao Studies is a product of the second ICLS at Arizona State University in 2007. True to its title, the volume's nineteen essays in five categories cover a dazzling variety of disciplines and approaches. The volume likewise reflects the CLS's inclusive definition of “Lao studies.” Papers focus not only on the nation-state of Laos and the various peoples who live there, but also on Lao and non-Lao diaspora from the country, and even on the Prai in Thailand—since Prai communities also live in Laos.
The first section, “Language, Literacy, and Information Access,” opens with Gregory Green's cautiously optimistic...
