| Abstract: |
Relationships among the populations of southern Yunnan, northern Thailand (Lan Na), northern Laos and Burma have been discussed extensively in terms of ethnicity, linguistics, politics, religion and other frameworks. This paper offers a different mode of understanding, through the perspective of ceramic production technology. Drawing on fieldwork in Yunnan in 2009 and 2010 and our earlier surveys of pottery production in adjacent areas of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, it describes continuity across borders of ceramic production technology, at the same time as it identifies disparities in ceramic repertories and usages that illuminate diversity defined by borders. It considers several noteworthy issues of diversity: the production of ritual vessels in the earthenware repertory
interaction with Burmese ceramics
the issue of stoneware production
and concludes with some comments on ethnicity.
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