within the national discourse. If museum exhibitions are chosen as a means of
communicating and imagining the nation, a careful selection and recombination
of icons is crucial for the intended visualisation and representation of the
nation. This representation of contingent ideological reconfigurations – in the
present context, the regime’s vision of a Lao national culture – must be
regarded as an important tool for the ‘management and discipline of historical
memory’ (Schwenkel 2009: 150) in a society that is characterised by a weak
education system.