Vatthana Pholsena is a research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Currently based in Singapore, she is also the representative for the Institute of Research on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC). From 2004-2006 she was Assistant Professor in the Southeast Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore. Her research in Laos focuses on issues of ethnicity and nationalism, particularly as they have affected ‘peripheral’ upland populations, and the connections between history, historiography and memory in Laos. She is the author of Post-War Laos: The Politics of History Culture and Identity (Singapore: ISEAS, 2006); “Highlanders on the Ho Chi Minh Trail: Representations and Narratives”, Critical Asian Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, 2008; “Life under Bombing in Southeastern Laos (1964-1973): Through the Accounts of Survivors in Sepon”, European Journal of East Asian Studies, vol. 9 (2), 2010.