The end of bamboo houses in northern Laos

Abstract

While we know much about the beginnings of houses, we rarely know about their endings. Yet, to understand the temporality of houses and the entanglement of the biographies of houses and their residents, the analysis of their endings is particularly relevant. The case of Khmu houses is especially suggestive here, for it shows that the end of a house is not an exceptional phenomenon, nor a symptom of crisis, but an inevitable and intended part of its life cycle. Unintended ends, on the other hand, may continue to be animated. While bamboo houses can be assumed to have reached their end due to the widespread use of timber and, increasingly, of concrete. However, bamboo as a building material still appears convenient for fulfilling certain ends, which means that it may resurface even in novel ways.