Anders Poulsen’s study of customs and beliefs related to pregnancy and childbirth describes an area of life and culture that is central to people’s life no matter what stage of development. He describes how these customs and beliefs have changed over almost half a century in a small Isan village, for the villagers individually and collectively, and how the wider appreciation of these customs (for example in terms of international research) have changed as well. Hence, the study is a rare documentation of how the development process affects customs and beliefs in a society, and so manages to capture the interdependency between the different aspects of culture and cultural change. Based on Anders Poulsen’s description of customs and beliefs in this Isan village we can identify contours of a more complex, general discussion of culture and development.