The Mlabri: Spirits of the Yellow Leaves

Abstract

This photo essay introduces an ethnic group, the Mlabri in Thailand. The Mlabri had traditionally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers in fthe rainforest that spread out in mountainous regions in northern area of Thailand. Due to their traditional lifestyle, they have been called "phi tong lueang" (spirits of the yellow leaves) in Thai and Laotian. Nowadays they have extremely small population, about 400 individuals, and live sedentary life in permanent settlements that are scattered in two provinces of Thailand Phrae and Nan and in a small village in Laos,, as result of a development programs by a foreign missionary, the government and the royal family. Today they engage in wage working, cash crop cultivation and ethnic tourism that introduced as alternative ways for economic self-sufficiency.