Citation

Culas C. Journal Asiatique 1999; 287(2): 629-677.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999)

DOI

10.2143/ja.287.2.556482

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

When journalists and political analysts talk about the opium issue in South-East Asia, they usually emphasize the responsibility of the "opium farmers" in the international market of heroin, in particular the responsibility of the Hill-Tribe peoples in too famous "Golden Triangle". The devastation caused by opium addiction among Hill-Tribes is often exaggerated with the intention of showing the weakness of their "morality" as far narcotic uses are concerned. In this article, the author reveals the diversity of opium uses in Hmong culture (medicine, pleasure, way of committing suicide). Special attention is paid to the social status and the motivations of the users and also to the linguistic expression and perception of the Hmong. Direct and tacit social pressures are also analysed to show the strength of social control in this small and segmentary society. At the end the analysis shows an increase in drug-addiction in some villages, where the family structure is strongly weakened, but it also indicates the awakening of a new sterner morality in some recent messianic movements.

Language: fr

Keywords

History; Hmong; Laos; Mariage; Opium; Opium addiction; Opium trade; Opium uses; Social pressures; South-East Asia; Suicide; Thailand; Vietnam