| Abstract: |
Most of the studies concerning the Mon-Khmer speaking groups in Laos, especially the Khmu in the north of the country, have stressed their political, economical and cultural subordination to the Tai populations. They also have predicted the complete assimilation of these peoples by their lowland neighbours. This article uses ethnographic data collected since 1994, particularly in the Nam Tha valley, to reassess the modalities of this 'tai-ization process' and to understand why, after so many years of Tai cultural and political influences, distinct identities are still perpetuating themselves. Tai-ization does not imply only the influence of the Tai on the highland peoples' way of life, but also how the latter adapt themselves to this influence with their own cultural resources. Therefore, tai-ization is an ambivalent process which can lead to the assimilation of some highlanders or conversely to the emergence of new identity markers, myths or categories, which structure the inter-ethnic relationships.
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