Yann Roche

Turbulent Times and Enduring Peoples: Mountain Minorities in the South-East Asian Massif

Scattered across the South-East Asian massif, a few dozen ethnic groups (numbering around 50 million) maintain highly original cultural identities and political and economic traditions, against pressure from national majorities. They face the same challenges. The means by which social change has been imposed by the lowlanders are similar from country to country, and the results are comparable. The originality of this book lies in the combination of multi-disciplinary mixing of social anthropology, history and human geography; multi-culturality grouping together several cultural contexts; trans-nationality straddling five countries and bridging the traditional divide between South China and Mainland South-East Asia; and history reaching back 300 years.

Mapping ethnic diversity in highland Northern Vietnam

In this paper we initially present a critical review of a range of ethnological maps produced over the last 130 years for highland northern Vietnam. In particular we illustrate the many difficulties faced when trying to represent mosaics of ethnic highland minority groups on two dimensional maps. Such historical maps included no attempts to bring topographic details into the picture, an idea that would have been virtually impossible anyway, given the cartographic technologies at the time. Yet by not including such details or not representing them clearly, a partial image of these populations has been created that, over time, has become a standardised representation. Therefore, as a more systematic approach to the analysis of these highland minority groups, we present recent attempts to create more functional maps and models for the northern Vietnam province of Lao Cai, using modern cartographic techniques and geographic information systems. Utilising tools such as digital cartography and digital elevation models a wealth of information can be gained which has the potential, amongst other possible uses, to allow for a greater understanding and sensitivity regarding ethnic minority groups in Northern Vietnam, and their use of the local environment.

Mapping ethnic groups in Lao Cai Province, Vietnam

This research note offers a brief summary of recent cartographic work in the province of Lao Cai in northern Vietnam, with a specific focus on the districts of Sa Pa and Bac Ha. By providing a representation of topography in digital format, which enables a connection between demographic and physical variables, the long term aim is to illustrate the relationship between ethnicity and topography.

Écotourisme, aires protégées et expansion agricole : quelle place pour les systèmes socio-écologiques locaux?

RÉSUMÉ L’article s’attache au rôle de l’écotourisme dans la dynamique d’adaptation et de résilience des communautés locales dans un contexte d’expansion agricole et de mise en place de zones de conservation. À la lumière des deux études de cas présentées, les activités écotouristiques n’ont pas permis de freiner l’expansion des cultures du palmier à huile à Sabah (Malaisie) et de l’hévéa à Nam Ha (Laos). La mise en place des zones de conservation, allant de pair avec l’expansion des activités écotouristiques, a plutôt complexifié l’accès aux ressources pour les populations locales, et engendré des conséquences négatives sur la résilience socio-écologique des systèmes locaux.