Lao Buddhism; Biography of the Buddha; Buddhist Opera; Laos; Religious music; Education; America; Dramatic arts; Bernard-Johnston, Jean
摘要
Lao folk opera is a unique blend of popular theater and sung poetry performed among Lao-speaking people of rural Southeast Asia for a wide range of social and religious purposes. As a traditional medium for popular education，its primary function has been to preserve the cultural identity of the ethnic Lao by reenacting ancient myths, local folk legends, and morality tales based on the penultimate lives of the Buddha. The role of Lao folk opera is explored as a medium for constructively addressing problems of cultural conflict and acculturative stress that have arisen among lowland Lao refugees and their children in urban America. The central focus of the inquiry is on the ways Lao folk opera currently functions as a learning medium in the resettlement context. Secondary literature consulted includes that dealing with the role of oral specialist in traditional societies, Buddhist epistemology in the Theravada tradition，and community education in rural Lao culture.
