Paper short abstract:

In contemporary Laos, landscapes of war memory are exploited for both ideological and economic reasons. Focusing on two war-torn Lao provinces, this paper examines discursive tensions between revolutionary glorification, tourist entertainment and individual traumatic memory.

Paper long abstract:

Landscapes of memory - to be more specific: war memory - are increasingly developing into an economic resource in contemporary Lao People's Democratic Republic. Generally being exploited for ideological reasons as sites of heroism and revolutionary spirit, war-torn provinces such as Houaphanh and Xieng Khouang in Northern Laos are now also target areas of domestic and international tourism. Houaphanh province is highlighted by the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party as the "cradle of the Lao revolution". In the cave city of Viengsay, both revolutionaries and civilians sought shelter from American bombing campaigns during the Second Indochina War (1964-1973). After the revolution of 1975, the caves were used as re-education camps for members of the old elite. Finally, in the late 1990s, the caves were opened for tourists. The famous "Plain of Jars" in Xieng Khouang province was the major battlefield in Laos. Here the traumatic past is even more striking than in Houaphanh as still today, craters are scattered all over the place and unexploded ordnance lurks everywhere. The latter causes hundreds of fatalities each year making it a popular destination for thrill-seeking visitors. This paper will address the tension between trauma and entertainment that manifest itself in Lao sites of memory as representations of the country's violent past. It focuses on the discursive interplay between official glorification of the "anti-imperialist" struggle, commodification of the past for tourist consumption and individual, often traumatic memory.