Vientiane

Taylor & Francis

VientianeTransformations of a Lao landscape\nAuthor(s): Marc Askew, Colin Long, William Logan\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9780415331418, 978-0415331418\nSynopsis\nProviding insights into this neglected Southeast Asian city, this interesting book interprets Vientianes landscape - physical as well as imagined - as a reflection of key aspects of Lao geo-political history, the nature of Lao urbanism, and its critical relation to constructions of Lao identity in the contemporary period. It is argued that the patterns of change seen through Vientianes past embody the key political and economic processes and transformations impacting on the people of Laos. \n\nThe Lao urban past has rarely been an object of attention by scholars. Laos, in fact, is continually portrayed as a rural backwater, marginal to the dynamic trends affecting most of the Southeast Asian mainland. In contrast to these persistent and static portraya.