How does education affect health beliefs and behaviours of rural people in Laos? How do cultural beliefs, livelihoods, and health practices interact? How can participatory research help decolonise traditional understandings of ethnicity and identity?

In this presentation, PhD candidate Thipphaphone (Kee) Xayavong will share preliminary study insights from the ‘Learning Space’ research project, documenting in particular the coexistence of modern medication and the traditional wisdom of well-being in the Yru community of Champasak Province. This participatory research also allows us to reflect on using art-based approaches to challenge common assumptions in mainstream scholarship.

The Learning Space research project aims to co-produce narratives intersecting cultural identity, rural livelihood, education, and health practice and belief, in response to ethnic marginalisation in rural Lao PDR.

How to join

This webinar on traditional healing in southern Laos will be delivered by Thipphaphone (Kee) Xayavong on 16 October, 2pm. Anyone interested can register here for free to get access to the Zoom link (after registration, participants will get a reminder mail on the day of the event with the Zoom link to participate)

About the speaker

Thipphaphone (Kee) Xayavong is a Co-Principal Investigator of the Learning Space project and an EUTOPIA PhD Student in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick and in the Department of Geography at the CY Cergy Paris Université. His master's degree in Peace Education influences the Learning Space project as it critically investigates the role of education and its effects on the health beliefs and behaviours of the rural populations and ethnic people. He is particularly interested in utilising participatory research approaches to engage community members in co-producing knowledge that challenges the dominant research discourses.

Connecting Cultures GRP supported the 'Learning Space' project through our 'Connecting cultures through co-production' funding call in 2020/21