Center for Lao Studies

The Center for Lao Studies Newsletter, commemorating our 20th anniversary, is now available. Please click below for our latest updates:

Center for Lao Studies Updates Email from Center for Lao Studies CLS Quarterly Newsletter   The Center for Lao Studies is turning 20! ສູນລາວສຶກສາ ສເຫຼີມສຫຼອງ ຄົບຮອບ 20 ປີ   We are delighted to announce that the Center for Lao Studi

CALL FOR PAPERS
Eighth International Conference on Lao Studies
Abstract Deadline: 22 February 2026

When: Thursday, 10 September to Sunday, 13 September 2026
Where: Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

The Institute of Anthropology at the Centre of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University, and the Center for Lao Studies (CLS) are pleased to announce that the Eighth International Conference on Lao Studies (ICLS 8 ) will be held on September 10-13, 2026 in Heidelberg, Germany. The main objective of the conference is to promote Lao studies, broadly defined, by providing an international forum for scholars to present and discuss various aspects of Lao Studies.

Organizers:
Institute of Anthropology
Centre of Asian and Transcultural Studies
Heidelberg University
Voßstr. 2, Building 4110, 69115 Heidelberg
email: [email protected]

Center for Lao Studies
27 Monte Vista Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080 USA
tel: +1.415.373.7966 email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.conferencecentral.org/webpage/view/42

Theme: The Time and Space of Laos: Neighbors and transformations

It is not only in the idiom of “from landlocked to landlinked", that Laos has been recognized as a country intensely linked with its neighbors. It is also a fact that it is situated between countries of highly different political organizations and economic status. As such, Laos has managed to find unique ways of dealing with both external influences and internal transformations. This also implies multiples diachronic dimensions – Life in contemporary Laos is shaped by the distinct times of change, of tradition and of national and geopolitical developments. It also concerns space: besides Laos’s borders with its regional neighbors, there are also wide-ranging international links, including those across Asia, into the Pacific, Europe or the Americas. Talking about space in Laos also implies contrasts between highland and lowland, city and countryside or river and forest. This addresses new modes of transportation and communication

that compress time and space, such as railroads, cellphones and the internet, but also the cycles of agricultural life and its transformation through climate change and cash cropping.

The Eighth International Conference on Lao Studies invites workshops and presentations that address these issues in a widely conceived way. It also intends to accommodate all academic scholarship in the social sciences and humanities related to Laos, to people identifying as Lao or to the country more generally, including people from all ethnic groups found in Laos, and diaspora communities all over the world.

Description:
The conference will bring together Lao Studies scholars and researchers from all disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, and all intellectual and political perspectives, to share paper presentations, panel presentations, exhibits, performances, and cultural activities.

The following are included within the target groups of the conference:
1) All self-identified ethnic groups of Laos (e.g. Lao, Khmu, Hmong, Ieu-Mien, Akha, Phouan, Phou Tai, Nyouan, etc.);
2) Lao/Thai Isan and other ethnic Lao groups in Thailand (e.g. Lao Song, Phouan, Phou Tai, etc.) ;
3) Ethnic Lao living in Cambodia;
4) Cross-border ethnic groups living in Vietnam, China, Burma, Thailand and Cambodia (e.g. Akha, Hmong, Phouan, Ieu-Mien, Khmu, Tai Lue, Tai Dam, Lahu, Brao, etc.);
5) Overseas diaspora originally from Laos or descendants of people from Laos (including French Lao, German Lao, Lao Americans, Hmong Americans, Khmu Americans, Australian Lao, Canadian Lao, etc.);

The following are some, but certainly not all, possible topics of interest to the conference organizers:
• Architectural Transformations
• Art and Music
• Border Trade and Interactions
• Buddhism and Other Religions
• Community
• Cultures of Ethnic Groups in Laos
• Education
• Ethnic Groups and Economic and Social Change
• Ethnomusicology
• Extractive Industries
• Families and Children
• Gender Relations
• Health and Illness
• History
• Identity Politics
• Infrastructures and their Effects
• Internet-Based Communications and Networking
• Language, Linguistics and Literature
• Lao American Issues
• Lao Heritage
• Lao People in the Regional/Global Economy
• Lao Relations with People from Other Ethnic Groups
• Large-Scale Economic Land Concessions
• Livelihood Changes
• Nature Conservation (including Wildlife and Protected Area Management)
• Nature-Society Interactions
• Politics
• Research Methodologies in Lao Studies
• Rural Development
• Transnational Networks and Relations
• Urbanization and Development

PROCEDURES and TIMELINES
1) Please submit abstracts for individual papers or organized panels in English until February 22nd, 2026, via this address [email protected].

2) The conference abstract committee will review abstracts and send an acceptance letter with scheduling information and other instructions for submitting final abstract statements by early March.

3) Abstracts of panels and individual papers will be collected for distribution on-line.

General Contact information:
Prof. Dr. Guido Sprenger
Institut für Ethnologie, Universität Heidelberg
Centre of Asian and Transcultural Studies
Voßstr. 2, Building 4110
69115 Heidelberg
Germany

International Conference on Lao Studies (ICLS) | Center for Lao Studies
[email protected]

ORGANIZED PANELS
Organized panels, composed of 3-4 scholars presenting formal papers and 1 or 2 discussants that can be scheduled into one-and-a-half-hour time slots are also invited. Panel organizers are requested to supply the following information:
• Title of the panel
• Conference theme(s) related to the panel
• Name, institution, address and email of the panel organizer
• Name, institution, address and email of each paper presenter
• Names, institutions, addresses and emails of the panel discussants
• Abstract (250 words or less) describing the panel as a whole
• Title of each paper and abstract (250 words or less) for each paper

INDIVIDUAL PAPERS
Individual papers will be grouped into coherent panels. The papers must include the following:
• Title of the paper
• Name, institution, address and email address of paper presenter
• Abstracts (250 words or less) with identified keywords.
• Related conference topic(s)

REGISTRATION
Please register here:
https://www.conferencecentral.org/webpage/view/42

All participants are requested to register online. Registration via the website is only for in-person attendance. The registration fee includes the conference program.

Early registration deadline is April 15th, 2026. Please note that there will be no refund for cancellation or absence.

Hybrid options
No panels are offered online-only. A limited number of registrations for online participation in select panels will be made available at the same rate. If you want to join online only, please do NOT register yet but send a message to [email protected], with “Hybrid” as subject line. The limited online slots will be distributed by first-come, first serve principle. Online participants will then receive a separate link for registration before the end of the early-bird registration. Please understand that organizing a hybrid conference is more cost-intensive.

Here is the YouTube link to share the SAIL video with colleagues who do not have Facebook.

Study Abroad in Laos (SAIL) Program Promo The Center for Lao Studies (CLS), dedicated to promoting and advancing the field of Lao Studies, is sponsoring its annual Summer Study Abroad in Laos program...

Please join us for the 8th International Conference on Lao Studies.
September 10-13, 2026 at Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. The conference is open to the public. For more information, please visit: www.conferencecentral.org/webpage/view/42

SAIL away to Laos with us in summer 2026! Join the Center for Lao Studies' Summer Study Abroad in Laos (SAIL) in a five week program to learn Lao in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Program dates: June 29-July 31, 2026. Application deadline: April 16, 2026. For more information, please visit: https://laostudies.org/sail/program%20detail

The Center for Lao Studies (CLS) is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California, dedicated to advancing knowledge and engagement in Lao Studies through research, education, and information sharing. It serves as both an academic and resource center for scholars, the general public, and individuals of Lao heritage worldwide.

Come check out the Center of Lao Studies at Sabaidee Fest 2025 as they will be teaching "Lumvong" among other Lao dances and they will be displaying Lao cultural costumes.

For more information about their organization, check out their website:

https://www.laostudies.org/

*** POSTPONE TO SEPTEMBER 10-13, 2026. ***

Eighth International Conference on Lao Studies
ການປະຊຸມນາໆຊາດ ລາວສຶກສາ ຄັ້ງທີ ໘
September 11-14, 2025
Heildelberg University
Heildelberg, Germany

International Conference on Lao Studies (ICLS) | Center for Lao Studies     The 8th ICLS | September 11-14, 2025| Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany   HOSTED BY              Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany Center for Lao Studies (CLS), San Francisco, CA USA   CONFERENCE VENUE The Institute of Anthropology at the Centre of Asian and ...

If you missed Saginaw Lao New Year or if were there and wanted to continue the celebration, please join us at the Merced (California) Lao New Year this Saturday, May 4, 2024; 10am-10pm. It's a one day event so don't miss it. There will be a Tak Baht in the morning, followed by cultural performances, and a parade in the afternoon. Plenty of food and souvenir vendors. Main stage will have the band playing until 10pm. Oh yeah, and the best part--A FIRE TRUCK--the city of Merced will provide us with a fire truck connected to a local water line to ensure there will plenty of wetness to go around. So grab your sandals and dancing shoes along with a swimming suite, and come on over. See you all there!!! Sabaidee Pi Mai! Happy Lao New Year!!