Space provides a rich repertoire of signifiers universally, and has meanings that may be universally recognized, especially as they relate to human status indexing. However, here I specify the particular cultural meanings of space for the Akha case. Many of these contrast dramatically with western conceptions of space. The single most important characteristic to recognize is that, for the Akha, space has important qualitative dimensions so it is not uniform as in a western quantitative sense of space. This qualitative dimension links space to ‘power’ or ‘potency’, the ‘life force’ (gỳlàn).

The Akha term gỳlàn has been variously translated as ‘blessing’ (Kammerer 1986: 66), ‘blessing, luck, grace (relig. sense)’ (Lewis 1989: 179) and ‘well being,’ ‘good fortune’ (Tooker 1988: 54, 133), among others. Similar concepts among other mainland groups have been defined as ‘potency’ (see Kirsch 1973 for upland groups), and ‘power’ (as an attribute common to both upland and lowland societies, see Durrenberger and Tannenbaum 1989, and Tannenbaum 1989). See also Errington (1989) for ‘potency’ in an Indonesian case. A similar concept of ‘lifeforce’ has been recognized in island Southeast Asia (see Endicott 1970; Anderson 1972; Benjamin 1979; Fox 1980; Errington 1983; and Waterson 1991: Chapter 6). There is a protective notion involved here (also recognized by Tannenbaum 1991 who calls it ‘power-protection’) in that the flow of potency protects those within its sphere from demonic forces at the periphery.

Space is especially not uniform when it comes to power. There is good, protective power and there is bad, dangerous power. Good, protective power flows from ‘inside’ forces such as the ancestors and a dangerous, draining power of outsiders is drawing away that flow of life (see also Chapter 6). As an example of Akha notions of protected space, I recall a story during my fieldwork about a fire in another Akha village some distance from mine. One child was caught in a house on fire and retreated to the location below the ancestral shrine (near the central house post) where he thought he would be protected from the flames (unfortunately he was not). I myself was cautioned from laying my head towards the ‘lower’ side of the house (the side where a coffin is placed at death) because there were negative draining forces there and I might become ill.