Colonial discourse in Ambiguous Allure of the West (original) (raw)
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The Ambiguous Allure of the West: Traces of the Colonial in Thailand
Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 2011
... Contents Foreword: The Names and Repetitions of Postcolonial History vii Dipesh Chakrabarty Acknowledgements Contributors Note on Transliteration and Referencing xix xxi xxiv Introduction The Allure of Ambiguity: The West and the Making of Thai Identities 1 Rachel V. ...
2005 Semicoloniality, translation and excess in Thai cultural studies
Increasing numbers of students of Thai history and culture are turning to varieties of critical theory to respond to the limitations of the empiricist methodologies of classical Thai area studies. These diverse theoretical appropriations constitute a critical project of Thai cultural studies that seeks to deconstruct essentialist readings of Thai culture, Thai identity and Thai nation by revealing the genealogical origins of these notions as contingent products of historical projects of power. Thai cultural studies resists narratives of Thai uniqueness, drawing on comparative theoretical frames such as post-structuralism and post-colonial analysis in order to read Thai history alongside rather than in isolation from the histories of other countries. While these critical methodologies have the potential to open up exciting new lines of inquiry in Thai history and culture, there is nevertheless a risk that unreflective applications of theory may perpetuate Euro–Amerocentric analyses. Thai cultural studies needs to be built upon a practice of translation that takes into account the ways that power imbalances between Western analytical discourses and Thai cultural logics may systematically distort forms of knowledge. Insufficient attention to the technical requirements of translating between Thai and Western languages and discourses, respectively, may lead to theory erasing the specificity of Thai cultural logics. A case study is provided of the analytical tensions that may result from a deficient practice of translation in Thai studies. It is concluded that accounts of Thailand's supposed 'excessiveness' point to the limits of current theory in fully accounting for modern Thai cultural logics and indicate the need for further theoretical development.
Cultural Collusion: South Asia and the construction of the Modern Thai Identities
Interdisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences (Supplementary Issue), Mahidol University, 2013
India has had long historic relations with Asia. As a result of 2000 years of cultural exchange, South Asian influences are evident in most parts of Southeast Asia. In this paper, I am particularly interested in examining hybrid forms of Hinduism in Thailand, a place that has experienced Indic influences on arts, scriptures, and language, as well as religious practices and ceremonies. A number of papers have been written on the topic but not much has been done on the importance of Hinduism, its presence in the region and its importance in binding the two cultures together. This research aims to fill this gap and to examine how South Asian influences help to define Thai identities.
TRaNS, 2024
'Thainess' [khwam-pen-Thai] or Thai identity has long been a state-constructed ideology linked to nationalist sentiment. However, in the 21 st century, internal politics and globalisation have come to challenge its monopoly. Against this backdrop, reinventing classical literature and folklore has emerged as a way to reimagine and rethink 'Thainess' in Thai literature. This holds particular relevance since transnational cultures, ranging from classical Indian mythology to the contemporary Korean wave, continue to be hybridised and reconstructed. This paper examines the hybridity of Thainess in contemporary Thai literature, focusing on two different genres: fantasy and fanfiction. Firstly, I explore the fantasy novel series 'Nawa Himmaphan' [New Himmaphan] (2013-2018), depicting an apocalypse and creating a new world inspired by the Indian mythical forest named Himavanta. The novel adapts and reinterprets the roles and meanings of Deva (the god) and Asura (the demon) in an upside-down future. Secondly, I examine an adaptation of the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian Ramayana, published on the internet and transformed into Boys Love (BL) fanfiction referencing Korean idols called 'Huachai Thotsakan KAIHUN' [The Heart of Thotsakan KAIHUN] (2016-2017). It reconstructs the Ramakien, challenging its traditional meaning while asserting the aesthetics of K-pop fans. Through the lens of the hybridity framework, this paper argues that these texts not only illustrate cross-regional cultural hybridisation but also challenge the top-down construction of Thainess. Hybridity creates a 'liminal space' for Thainess, establishing a new power structure that highlights the significance of marginalised voices against the backdrop of political polarisation and the influence of transnational flows.
Recent political events in Thailand have shed light on a long neglected and dangerous corner of 'Thai' history. An oceanic shift in Thai politics, only beginning to be tracked, now threatens the 'Thai race nationalist model', the foundations of which date back to the early twentieth century. Made near complete under military dictatorship after 1958, and perfected after the bloody crackdown of 1976, this model has enjoyed apparent rejuvenation since the 2006 coup, now with the monarchy at its centre. This paper focuses on the question of Lao ethnicity and the North East of Thailand, or Isan. It shows how a combination of linguistics, a pseudo-science of race and ethnicity and historical revisionism have created the appearance of an ethnically and culturally homogenized 'Thailand'. The paper argues that an ethnic history from the periphery has run parallel to the history of the Thai centre, and its broad contours become ever sharper. 'Thailand', as a nationalist construct, now faces competing 'ethnic' narratives.