Photographies Asie du Sud-Est 2005, Portraits de famille (Laos, Birmanie) - Photographs : Southeast Asia 2005, Family Portraits (MLaos, Burma)

Portraits de familles
Family portraits

Citation - Quote

Si vous vous contentez de voir ce qui est évident, vous ne verrez rien.
If you are not willing to see more than is visible, you won't see anything.
Ruth Bernhard

About the Akha

Akha people are found in considerable numbers in southern Yunnan, primarily in the area of the Sip Song Panna. From here they have recently migrated south, particularly into eastern Shan state of Burma (Kengtung), into northern Laos, particularly south and west of Phongsaly, and to a lesser extent into extreme northern Thailand, in Chiang Rai province. Akha is a Tibeto-Burman language related to Lahu and Lisu. There is no native script.

Akha villages are characteristically placed just below the crest of a secondary ridge, on fairly steep terrain. They are generally found above 3,500-4,000 feet, but not as high as the Meo and Lahu. In northern Thailand, the Akha villages have been said to be primarily located in areas of secondary forest growth or high grasslands growing over abandoned swiddens.

Well-marked paths or trails lead from one village to another. Where the path enters the village, gates or archways are set up which figure prominently in Akha religious beliefs and sacrifices. Beside the gates are male and female (copulating) fertility figures carved in the round. The gates are considered sacred, and are the sites of frequent religious ceremonies and sacrifical offerings.

The Akha are primarily swidden agriculturists. Hunting is not as important as it is among the Lahu. Fishing is a subsidiary activity. Collecting is more important as a source of food than is generally recognized. Some Akha, in Thailand, in Laos, and in Burma, obtain some cash income through the sale of raw opium and livestock to Chinese, Lao, and Shan people. Food crops include rice, maize, millet, buckwheat, sugar cane, peppers, vegetables, yams, beans, melons, and bananas. Tobacco, tea, poppies, and some cotton are also grown. Rice is exclusively of a nonglutinous variety.

The Akha religion is basically animistic in content, with a strong empasis on the cult of the ancestors.

Source: Frank M. Lebar, Gerald C. Hickey, John K. Musgrave, Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia, Human Relations Area Files Press, New Haven, 1964.