WE ARE ALL KMHMU, JUST THE SAME - ETHNONYMS, ETHNIC IDENTITIES, AND ETHNIC-GROUPS

Ethnonyms (the names of ethnic groups) in their socially situated ling uistic use, can offer insights into indigenous conceptions of the soci ocultural universe. Here I examine the complex ethnonymic system of th e Kmhmu of northern Laos and neighboring regions. Kmhmu is both an eth nonym and a common noun meaning ''person'' or ''human''; I consider ho w the term is understood during the ongoing communicative work of the community. Kmhmu ethnonymic usage also reveals two indigenous models o f ethnicity, models that coexist unproblematically despite their mutua lly contradictory appearance. One model corresponds to scholarly conce ptions of ethnicity as situational, the other to conceptions of ethnic ity as primordial.