RUI: Lahu Media Project

Western Washington University, Bellingham WA

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Judith M. S. Pine, of Western Washington University, will undertake research on the use and impact of internationally available media in minority languages to create a common identity for minority communities that reside in different nation states and practice different religions. The research will be conducted among people who call themselves Lahu, and who speak various dialects of this Tibeto-Burman language. Lahu speakers live in rural agricultural villages, small cities and metropolises throughout Southeast Asia and southwest China. But Lahu people today also use a wide variety of shared media, including cassette tapes, CDs and VCDs, newsletters and books, radio programs and the Internet. The researcher will investigate whether Lahu-language media create a common sense of Lahu-ness that cross-cuts their diverse, distinct relationships with particular nation-states and religions. The researcher and her field team will interview and record Lahu-speaking media producers and media consumers in both Thailand and China. The primary methodology to be employed is a painstaking sociolinguistic technique called frame analysis, which will be used to analyze both the media and the researchers' field recordings of native speakers discussing Lahu language media. This research will enhance social scientific understanding of how minority populations who live in different countries but speak a common language may transcend geographic, political, and ideological boundaries through the use of modern media. This knowledge will have practical application, especially for those who are designing public health or public education programs targeting stateless or indigenous populations.