STUDIES IN GLOBAL ARCHAEOLOGY 13 PRESERVING IMPERMANENCE THE CREATION OF HERITAGE IN VIENTIANE, LAOS ANNA KARLSTRÖM Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Uppsala University 2009 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Geijersalen, Centre for the Humanities, English Park Campus, Thunbergsvägen 3P, Uppsala, Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 13:00 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Karlström, A. 2009. Preserving Impermanence. The Creation of Heritage in Vientiane, Laos. Studies in Global Archaeology 13. 239 pp. 978-91-506-2077-1. This thesis is about the heritage in Vientiane. In an attempt to go beyond a more traditional descriptive approach, the study aims at bringing forward a discussion about the definition, or rather the multiplicity of definitions, of the concept of heritage as such. The unavoidabe tension emanating from a modern western frame of thought being applied to the geographical and cultu- ral setting of the study provides an opportunity to develop a criticism of some of the assumptions underlying our current definitions of heritage. For this particular study, heritage is defined as to include stories, places and things. It is a heri- tage that is complex and ambiguous, because the stories are parallel, the definitions and percep- tions of place are manifold and contested, and the things and their meaning appear altered, de- pending on what approach to materiality is used. The objective is not to propose how to identify and manage such a complex heritage. Rather, it is about what causes this complexity and ambi- guity and what is in between the stories, places and things. In addition, the study aims to critically deconstruct the contemporary heritage discourse, which privileges material authenticity, form and fabric and the idea that heritage values are universal and should be preserved for the future and preferably forever. In Laos, Buddhism dominates as religious practice. In this context, the notion of material im- permanence also governs the perception of reality. Approaches to materiality in Buddhism are related to the general ideas that things are important from a contemporary perspective and prima- rily as containers for spiritual values, that the spiritual values carry the connection to the past, and that heritage is primarily spiritual in nature and has little to do with physical structure and form. By exploring the concepts of restoration, destruction and consumption in such a perspective, we understand that preservation and restoration are active processes of materialisation. We also understand that destruction and consumption are necessary for the appreciation of certain herita- ge expressions, and that heritage is being constantly created. With this understanding, this book is an argument for challenging contemporary western heritage discourse and question its fundamen- tal ideology of preservationism. Keywords: Vientiane, Laos, heritage, impermanence, preservation, restoration, destruction, immate- riality, materiality, narrativity, Buddhism, animism Anna Karlström, African and Comparative Archaeology, Box 626, Uppsala University, SE-75126 Uppsala, Sweden © Anna Karlström 2009 ISSN 1651-1255 ISBN 978-91-506-2077-1 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-101166 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-101166) Cover illustration: Vientiane survey 2003, Bounheuang Bouasisengpaseuth and monk at Vat Nak. Insert: photographs and illustrations by Anna Karlström unless otherwise stated. Lao translations: Oudomphone Bounyavong. Published and distributed by: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala Univer- sity, Box 626, SE-751 26 Uppsala, Sweden. Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, 2009 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN LAO 11 NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION 14 INTRODUCTION 15 PART I STORIES 1. OTHERS’ STORIES 25 Envoys and explorers – confirming their own identities Colonisers – emphasising difference and power Scientists – searching for truth and origin Contemporary archaeological stories Imperialist structures 2. INSIDE STORIES 53 Use of written sources – searching and researching history Heroes – strengthening identities Professionals and politicians – developing and defending nationalism Nationalist structures 3. NARRATIVITY 73 Narrativity as knowledge Narrative structure and scientific truth Orality and literacy Creation and location through stories PART II PLACE 4. VIENTIANE 83 An archaeological site Archaeological surveys 2001-2003 5. CONTESTED DEFINITIONS 99 Urbanism Mandala and meuang Lao culture area Maps and imaginary landscapes 6. ALTERNATIVE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS 111 Origins and developments of a city How to get water Border markers PART III THINGS 7. MATERIAL CULTURE, IMMATERIAL CULTURE 141 Material culture studies Immaterial materiality Animism Popular Buddhism 8. VIENGKHAM AND SAY FONG 155 Archaeological excavations 2003-2004 Military camps and moated sites Temples and stones The city of 300 temples 9. UNDERSTANDING MATERIALITIES 177 Absence and presence, spiritual and material Things as meaning Time and origin Authenticity Materiality and immateriality in flux PART IV HERITAGE 10. PRESERVING IMPERMANENCE: A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS 191 The rise and development of a heritage discourse Preservation Impermanence 11. PRESERVATION AS CHANGE 199 Restoration and conservation Destruction and decay Consumption, looting and loss 12. HERITAGE CREATED 211 SUMMARY IN LAO 217 NOTES 223 REFERENCES 227 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To put it simply, I find writing a challenge, but also a joy. Now, there is an enormous debt I wish to express to all of you who have been involved, but I find it difficult to fully express this debt in an acknowledgement. I hope to have, at least to some extent, returned your generous support by completing this thesis, which is why I find writing not only a challenge and a joy, but also a duty. Having said this, and having written the book, I nevertheless take the opportunity to express in words in the following acknow- ledgement what some of you have contributed with. Before anything else, I wish to mention my first teacher in archaeology, Inger Österholm, who at the very beginning inspired me to continue study archaeology and enthusiastically encouraged the idea of going to Laos, and her husband, Sven Öster- holm, who shared with us students his profound knowledge about archaeological methods. Two years ago, Inger passed away, and one year later, Sven followed her. It is with deep sadness I realise that I will never be able to share with them neither the con- tent of this book nor any other archaeological inquiry. At the very beginning were also Elisabet Lind, Per Sørensen and Peter Fogde, whose contributions were in different ways decisive for my first meeting with Laos. For that invaluable help and encourage- ment, I will always be indebted to them. Another person among those who have been there from the beginning is Anna Källén, who has accompanied me all along the way. Without your stimulating company, as dear friend and colleague, I would have been so much poorer in thoughts and in words. I thank you for that, and for all the good times we have shared along the way. Laos has become a part of me, mainly owing to the project that started a few years after that first meeting, and that now ends with this thesis. I could not have accom- plished this if it was not for my friends and colleagues in Laos. This book is to a large extent yours. You shared with me your stories, your land and your ideas about past and present. I owe my deepest gratitude to many more than I could ever acknowledge here. I have expressed my gratitude to some of you in your own acknowledgement, thanks to Oudomphone Bounyavong who elegantly turned my English words into Lao. Nonethe- less, there are a few I want to acknowledge here too. The Ministry of Information and Culture in Vientiane has been my cooperation partner over the years, and without the great knowledge and generous help from colleagues at the Department of Museum and Archaeology and at the Lao National Museum the archaeological investigations in Vientiane could never have been realised. My heartful thanks go to every member of 7 PRESERVING IMPERMANENCE the staff there. At the very beginning, Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy and Viengkeo Souk- savathdy inspired me to choose what to focus on in my research. I will always be in- debted to them for that. I am also grateful to Thonglit Luangkhot, who played a deci- sive role in the initial phase of my project. Bounheuang Bouasisengpaseuth and Kanda Keosopha have been the persons who have conducted most of the fieldwork together with me. You deserve very extra special thanks, because during fieldwork we have not only worked together, but also lived together. By assisting me with introductions and insights, and teaching me about everyday life in Laos, you have made it possible for me to deepen my understanding of Laos, its past and present, and to deepen the relation- ships with all persons we have met and interacted with throughout the project. I owe you big thanks. I also wish to acknowledge others who have made generous contributions to my fieldwork in and around Vientiane. I want to thank Michel Lorrillard for always keeping the doors open to the EFEO office in Vientiane, and for sharing and discussing your research material with me. Alan Potkin and Catherine Raymonds have also always very generously shared their ideas and research material with me. Thank you so much for that. At the Lao National Museum I was lucky, even before my PhD project began, to meet Marion Ravenscroft, whose friendship has accompanied me since. At the museum was also Bronwyn Campbell, who in the later phases of my work provided invaluable help in the production of the Viengkham and Say Fong exhibitions. My heartful thanks goes to Göran Franson, who volunteered during the excavations in 2003-2004. With kind assistance from Lennart Hasselgren, the Thai-Lao georadar team helped me to identify invisible structures, which later on were dated thanks to very generous support from Andrew Murray at the Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating in Roskilde.