hybrid TV / internet documentary project,
about the Akha people in South-East Asia

M.Luksch99-00/Ambient Information Systems

The Akha (chin: Hani) people, have a population of 3 million divided by the borders of five national territories: China PDR, Laos PDR, Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma (Myanmar). The year 2000 will bring them together when they will hold a meeting in Jinghong , Yunnan, China.

The Akha identify as one people through their 'tribal' history and culture, rather than the 'modern' world history which created the nation states they live in. Representatives of the Akha leadership are going to discuss issues around the Akha-way-of-life, its adaption to modern times and integration into the nations in which they live.

The International Conference on Hani and Akha Culture is hosted by the People's Government of the Xishuangbanna Dai Prefecture, and the official focus lies in cultural and economic issues. Certainly the leaders will use the occasion to compare their legal status within the different national context .

They will consider the governmental policies that influence their daily lives; issues such as citizen rights, education and infrastructure, land rights; or their relationships to the dominant lowlanders.

The most important tool for shared experience is the traditional knowledge transmitted orally to the successive generations, and the radio programmes by the Akha radio station in Chiang Mai, the only media for those villagesr with battery powered transistor radios.

The documentary film structure will recognize the emerging 'media loop': TV, radio, and the internet. The main narrative will follow the highly recognized Akha personality, Abaw Buseu, on his way from his village in Thailand to the conference. in Yunnan.

In Jinghong we will establish an internet link from the 'meeting' to the radio station in Thailand, which will transmit the live discussions to the villages in the mountains within the allotted 2 hour Akha programme. Cameras in the villages will capture Abaw Buseu¥s wife and other villagers listening and reacting to the programme.

for further information

email to: Manu Luksch manu@sil.at



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