Sense of Place and the Construction of the Meaning of Place in Hom Phaen-din Lao by ‘Luk Don Kaden’

Abstract

This article analyzes the sense of place, place attachment, and the construction of place meaning within a selection of poems from Hom Phaen-din Lao by "Luk Don Kaden," a Lao poet and 2019 S.E.A. Write Awardee, published in 2020. Employing the perspective of place drawn from cultural studies, the study reveals that Hom Phaen-din Lao is a poetry collection notable for articulating the poet’s profound sense of place and attachment to Laos as his homeland. This deep connection is expressed in various dimensions, including love, the profound connection to the homeland, the respect for the place, and even the willingness of self-sacrifice for the place. The poet conveys these themes through the skillful deployment of literary devices such as similes, metaphors and symbols. Simultaneously, the poet constructs the meaning of the place, referring to the nation of Laos, in several evocative ways. Laos is depicted as the motherland, a place of natural beauty, a repository of culture and a simple way of life, and a land forged through the struggle for independence. Crucially, this construction of the meaning of “place” also implicitly serves to establish and reinforce Lao national identity.