Post-Colonial Nation-Building
The legacies of colonial boundary-drawing remained after the period of decolonization, following World War II. Former colonies, now states, have found it necessary to "build" a sense of nation among the often diverse populations within their borders. The means by which they have done so have ranged from peaceful political power-sharing and efforts to build inclusive visions of the nation, to ethnic suppression, "cleansing," or even genocide.
To illustrate the challenges of post-colonial nation-building, consider the state of Laos, in Southeast Asia. The idea of "nation"-building in Laos emerged only once the borders of the state were established, after it gained independence from France in 1949. Traditionally, the Lao people, situated between powerful Thai and Vietnamese neighbours, built alliances among their kingdoms and principalities on social relationships and family ties, rather than on centralized state authority over specifically delineated territory. The borders between Thailand and Laos, defined during the colonial period, followed the Mekong River, dividing the Lao ethnic group. The territory thus defined for Laos included other ethnic groups (such as the Khmou and the Hmong). To develop a vision of Laos as a nation thus required the creation of an "imagined community." Laotian nationalists portrayed the region's history to highlight how these peoples shared a common past (Jerndal and Rigg 1998). Laos, like many other post-colonial states, must "create a national identity, to fill the geographic space that history has left it" (Jerndal and Rigg 1998: 822).
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Date last modified: October 8, 2009.
NSF Project (AAG,Texas State, Northern Colorado)