On August 23, 2013, I met Mrs Khamtanh Souridaray Sayarath in Paris, France. Born in Champassak town in southern Laos, she was amongst the first Lao women to graduate from law school in Vientiane in the 1950s. Following graduation she held various positions in the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Culture, and the Department of Trade. In 1962 she became Chief de Bureau at the Ministry of Economics, where she was responsible for approving land, logging and mining concessions for the Royal Lao Government (RLG). She held that position until 1975, when the communist Pathet Lao took over the country. Like many others, she fled to a refugee camp in Thailand before eventually settling in Paris.

My discussion with Mrs Khamtanh is relevant for thinking about how people’s conceptualizations of land have changed in Laos, not only between non-communist and communist periods, but also since economic reforms were implemented in Laos in the mid-1980s, and especially since the 2003 Land Law was adopted, as it provides the legal framework

for permitting foreign investors to receive large plantation concessions, something that would not have happened during Mrs Khamtanh’s time. I argue here that understandings in Laos about land and national sovereignty have significantly shifted over the last few decades, with land now being increasingly financialized and seen as an asset for attracting foreign private investment, rather than being viewed as sovereign territory that should not be allowed to be controlled by foreigners.