Is “Taization” Equivalent to Assimilation

268th INTG Meeting – A talk by Olivier Evrard Acculturation and Perpetuation of Ethnic Boundaries in Northern Thailand and Laos About the Speaker Olivier Evrard is an anthropologist at IRD (Institut de Recherché pour le Developpement, previously called Orstom) and is currently collaborating with the Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University. He has been doing … Read more

Politics and Professionalism in Community Development – Examining Intervention in the Highlands of Northern Thailand

267th INTG Meeting – A Talk and LCD Presentation by Dr. Katharine McKinnon About Dr. McKinnon Katharine was recently awarded her PhD in Human Geography at the Australian National University. Her dissertation was written following a year of fieldwork based in Chiang Mai. She is now a post-doctoral research fellow in Development Studies at Massey … Read more

From Finding a Treasure in a Poor Village to the Setting up of an Akha Educational System

218th INTG Meeting – A talk by Leo A. von Geusau A Summary of Leo’s Talk I came to Thailand in 1977 to conduct fieldwork studies on Akha language and culture. Two obstacles that I initially encountered were that I was discouraged by the Thai authorities who, for whatever reasons, did not want me to … Read more

The Karen: Past, Present and Future?

213th INTG Meeting – A talk by Ron Renard Summary of the Talk The Karen people live mostly in the hills bordering the eastern region and Irrawaddy delta of Burma, primarily in Karen State, with some in Kayah State (Karenni State), southern Shan State (MoBye Region), Ayeyarwady Division (Irrawaddy Division), Southern Kawthoolei (Tenasserim Coastal Region) … Read more

Eco-Tourism and Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand

204th INTG Meeting – A talk by John Davies A Summary of John’s Talk Tourism amongst the hill tribes of northern Thailand is a relatively recent phenomenon. The more accessible villages were reached over thirty years ago, but there are still villages in the remotest areas which have rarely seen a westerner. The organization and advertising of … Read more

Does Participatory Land-Use Planning have a Chance with Hilltribes?

183rd INTG Meeting – A Presentation of the PhD field research in Mae Hong Son by Oliver Puginier Contact: oliver.puginier@t-online.de Abstract In the last decades, in the highlands of northern Thailand, natural resource conflicts and inconsistent policies have increasingly affected sustainable development. One of the major conflicts is exemplified by the promotion of forest protection vis-à-vis the … Read more

Problems in Setting up a UNDP Highland Development Project in Southeast Asia

143rd INTG Meeting – A talk by Ron Renard Summary of the Talk Ron Renard, formerly of Payap University and now working with UNDP, spoke about his experience working on a Highland people’s development program with UNDP. He talked about the difficulties and challenges encountered in setting up the project and also provided background information about highland peoples in the … Read more

The Contemporary Situation in the Thai Highlands

44th INTG Meeting – A panel discussion with W.R. Geddes, Wanat Bhruksasri, and Peter Hinton Bill Geddes reviewed the national significance of the foreign contribution to development [US$ 60 per capita] and the impact on highlanders, expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of knowl­edge [especially the widely held and erroneous notion that highlanders are solely … Read more