Biography
Lamphay Inthakoun has been working in Laos on academic research and development projects for over 15 years. Her work focuses on forestry, agriculture, rural livelihoods, climate change, and land-use change issues. Her research interests in upland livelihoods and the environment were piqued as an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Forestry at the National University. Later, she earned her master’s degree in development studies at the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) at Clark University in the United States, where she was exposed to critical theories of development and social change. Her master’s thesis focused on the Lao government’s land and forest policies that restrict upland villagers’ practices of subsistence-swidden cultivation and seek to integrate them into the market economy. Currently, she is enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Southeast Asian Studies at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS) at Kyoto University, Japan. Her doctoral research examines the effects of climate change and Chinese investments on upland livelihoods and environments in northern Laos. Lamphay was born and raised in the small town of Oudomxay in northern Laos, surrounded by mountains and diverse ethnic groups. Her family historically practiced swidden cultivation before stopping due to the expansion of the city into agricultural areas. She is passionate about becoming a Lao scholar who can critically analyze, communicate, and connect the development issues in Laos and across the Global South.
Email: lamphay@gmail.com