Invoking the Spirits
Fieldwork on the material and spiritual life of the hunter-gathers Mlabri in Northern Thailand
A part of the series Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter (60) , and the subject area Anthropology
With contributions by
Verner Alexandersen
More about the book
About the book
During a field study in 1970 among the hill tribes of
Northern Thailand, Jesper Trier and his wife heard rumours of a
secluded and very shy group of jungle dwellers whom the Thai called
the Spirits of the yellow leaves, but who called themselves Mlabri.
It was only after four months of arduous searching that the Triers
found the Mlabri in the mountain jungles. From 1977 to 1994 they
stayed with two Mlabri tribes and carried out intensive field
studies. The results of these studies are presented in this book
under four main headings: Material and social culture; The
supernatural world; The Mlabri language; The prayers.
Until now only a few descriptions of the Mlabri have been
published, and their spiritual world has never before been studied
and described in such detail as in this work by Jesper Trier. Today
only c. 300 Mlabri remain in the hills of Northern Thailand and
Laos. Their culture has changed, however, because of contact with
the outside world. Invoking the Spirits describes the
culture of a people whose numbers are rapidly declining.
