During the last two decades, Laos has undergone major transformations due to a massive influx of foreign investment. Improved communications and new forms of mobility have dramatically altered rural life. Changing Lives in Laos brings together contributions from young scholars that look closely at these transitions and the resulting rise of a new social, cultural, and economic order. The essays in this volume draw on original fieldwork and provide fresh analyses of topics such as the structures of power, the politics of territoriality, and new forms of sociability in emerging urban spaces.

The Phunoy are a Tibeto-Burmese population group in Phongsaly Province that has long been considered acculturated because of its adoption of various features of neighboring Tai societies, particularly Buddhism. This pioneering ethnography examines the Phunoy's supposed acculturation and independent identity, demonstrating how the Phunoy emerged as a group and constructed a "mirroring" relationship with the various Tai and Lao realms dominating the region. As guardians of the borders and allies of the colonial authorities who administered the province, they progressively formed a territory where they established themselves as indispensable intermediaries between state power and the other mountain ethnic groups. The integration of the Phunoy continues within Lao society today and is part of the history of the stabilization of the margins in northern mainland Southeast Asia.