An American death in Bangkok: The murder of Darrell Berrigan and the hybrid origins of gay identity in 1960s Thailand

GLQ

Volumn 5, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 361-411

  Jackson, Peter A ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0003184251     PISSN: 10642684     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/10642684-5-3-361     Document Type: Article

References (126)

1. See Peter A. Jackson, Dear Uncle Go: Male Homosexuality in Thailand (Bangkok: Bua Luang, 1995);
2. and Jackson, "Kalhoey < > Gay < > Man: The Historical Emergence of Gay Male Identity in Thailand," in Sites of Desire, Economies of Pleasure: Sexualities in Asia and the Pacific, ed. Lenore Manderson and Margaret Jolly (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 166-90.
3. See, e.g., Neil Miller, Out in the World: Gay and Lesbian Life from Buenos Aires to Bangkok (London: Penguin, 1992);
4. Dennis Altman, "The New World of 'Gay' Asia," in Asian and Pacific Inscriptions, ed. Suvendrini Perera (Melbourne: Meridian, 1995), 121-38;
5. and Gerard Sullivan and Laurence Wai-Teng Leong, eds., Gays and Lesbians in Asia and the Pacific: Social and Human Services (New York: Harrington Park, 1995).
6. Dennis Altman, "Rupture or Continuity? The Internationalization of Gay Identities," Social Text, no. 48 (1996): 77-94;
7. Donald Morton, "Global (Sexual) Politics, Class Struggle, and the Queer Left," Critical InQueeries 1, no. 3 (1997): 1-30;
8. Dennis Altman, "Response to Donald Morton," Critical InQueeries 1, no. 3 (1997): 31-33. For a range of responses to Altman's notion of global queering see the July 1996 Internet edition of the Australian Humanities Review (www.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/emuse/Globalqueering).
9. Fran Martin and Chris Berry, "Queer 'n' Asian on the Net: Syncretic Sexualities in Taiwan and Korean Cyberspaces," Critical InQueeries 2, no. 1 (1998): 67-94.
10. The expression "gender/sex" inverts Gayle Rubin's influential early notion of "sex/gender system" ("Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality," in Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality, ed. Carole S. Vance [Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984], 267-319)
11. and marks the continuing priority of gender over sexuality in Thai identities. The inversion of Rubin's term also signals my disagreement with the contention that gender and sexuality can be considered independent constructs requiring distinctive theories and modes of inquiry. See Peter A. Jackson, "An Explosion of Thai Identities: Peripheral Genders and the Limits of Queer Theory," Critical InQueeries 2, no. 2 (forthcoming).
12. In questioning the gender-sexuality distinction, I am indebted to Michael Connors for his comments on an earlier version of this essay and for the insights in his article "Missing Gender and the Fetishism of Sex: 'Gay' Responses to the Sexuality Debates," Thamyris 2 (1995): 207-28.
13. Altman, "Rupture or Continuity?" 88.
14. Scott Bravmann, Queer Fictions of the Past: History, Culture, and Difference (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 26.
15. Allman, "Rupture or Continuity?" 79.
16. See Garry Wotherspoon, "City of the Plain": History of a Gay Sub-culture (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1991);
17. Alan Bray, Homosexuality in Renaissance England (London: Gay Men's, 1982);
18. Theo van der Meer, "Sodomy and the Pursuit of a Third Sex in the Early Modern Period," in Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, ed. Gilbert Herdt (New York: Zone, 1994), 137-212;
19. and George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (New York: Basic, 1994).
20. David T. Evans, Sexual Citizenship: The Material Construction of Sexualities (London: Routledge, 1993), 93.
21. Jeffrey Weeks, "Discourse, Desire, and Sexual Deviance," in The Making of the Modern Homosexual, ed. Kenneth Plummer (London: Hutchinson, 1981), 92.
22. See Peter A. Jackson, "Thai Research on Homosexuality and Transgenderism and the Cultural Limits of Foucaultian Analysis," Journal of the History of Sexuality 8 (1997): 52-85.
23. See Jackson, "Explosion of Thai Identities."
24. The sources for this study were located largely by chance. While scanning Thai newspapers from the 1960s in the National Library of Thailand in September 1995, I came across a single reference to kathoey in a banner headline, and from that moment a paper chase took me through the Thai-language collections of libraries in Australia and the United States as well as in Thailand.
25. William Warren, Jim Thompson, the Legendary-American of Thailand: The Remarkable Career and Strange Disappearance of Jim Thompson (Bangkok: Jim Thompson Silk Co., 1994), 32.
26. Alexander MacDonald, My Footloose Newspaper Life (Bangkok: Post Publishing, 1990), 98.
27. Warren, Jim Thompson, 25.
28. See Peter A. Jackson, "Tolerant but Unaccepting: The Myth of a Thai Gay Paradise," in Genders and Sexualities in Modern Thailand, ed. Peter A. Jackson and Nerida Cook (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, forthcoming).
29. A range of recent studies consider hetero- and homoerotic desire in the Western imperialist project. On colonized Southeast Asia see Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's "History of Sexuality" and the Colonial Order of Things (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995).
30. On British India see Mrinalini Sinha, Colonial Masculinity: The "Manly Englishman" and the "Effeminate Bengali" in the Late Nineteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995);
31. and Christopher Lane, The Ruling Passion: British Colonial Allegory and the Paradox of Homosexual Desire (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995).
32. On the Mediterranean region see Robert Aldrich, The Seduction of the Mediterranean (London: Routledge, 1993).
33. For a general study see Rudi C. Bleys, The Geography of Perversion: Male-to-Male Sexual Behaviour outside the West and the Ethnographic Imagination, 1750-1918 (London: Cassell, 1996).
34. Alexander MacDonald, Bangkok Editor (New York: Macmillan, 1950);
35. and MacDonald, My Footloose Newspaper Life.
36. Jorges Orgibet, From Siam to Thailand: Backdrop to the Land of Smiles (Bangkok: Kofco [Thailand], 1982), 19, 21.
37. Warren, Jim Thompson, 250.
38. Bangkok Post, 4 October 1965, 18.
39. Thai Rath, 4 October 1965, 16.
40. For a detailed account of the Seri Thai during World War II that draws on U.S. sources see John B. Haseman, The Thai Resistance Movement during the Second World War (Bangkok: Chalermnit, n.d.).
41. Donald F. Cooper, Thailand: Dictatorship or Democracy? (London: Minerva, 1995), 32.
42. Bangkok Post, 4 October 1965, 18.
43. "Obituary - Prasit Lulitanon - The Presses Begin to Roll," Bangkok Post (Internet ed.), 21 May 1997.
44. For the conflict between Phao's and Sarit's cliques see Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian, Thailand's Durable Premier: Phibun through Three Decades, 1932-1957 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1995), 192-212;
45. and David K. Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984), 260-62.
46. According to Prasit, in the 1970s the Bangkok World merged with the Bangkok Post; the former became an afternoon tabloid, and the latter remained a morning broadsheet. The Bangkok World closed in the 1980s because of poor sales ("Obituary - Prasit Lulitanon").
47. "PM Pays Respects to Berrigan," Bangkok Post, 8 October 1965, 1.
48. "Berrigan Murder Case: Police 'Confident' of Catching Murderer," Bangkok World, 5 October 1965, 1, 4, 8.
49. "Complexities [in Case of] Murder of Bangkok World Editor: [U.S.] Embassy Sends In Investigators to Join in Solving the Case, Sleeping Partner's House Searched, Foster Son Held for Tense Questioning" [Kha bk. Bangkok World sap-sorn: Sathanthut song nuay seup ruam khli-khlai khadi, khon ban khu-norn, kak luk-liang sorp khriat], Thai Rath, 5 October 1965, 1, 16.
50. "Praphas Says: 'Murderer of Berrigan Will Be Caught Soon,'" Bangkok World, 7 October 1965, 1, 4, 8.
51. Manoj Vudha, "Thai Press Opinion: Berry Case," Bangkok World, 9 October 1965, 4.
52. "PM Pays Respects to Berrigan," 1;
53. "Hundreds at Cremation Rites for Mr Berrigan," Bangkok World, 9 October 1965, 1.
54. "Hundreds at Cremation Rites for Mr Berrigan," 1.
55. "No New Leads in Berrigan Murder Case," Bangkok Post, 4 October 1965, 1, 18.
56. "Kha pleuay bk. Bangkok World . . . ," Thai Rath, 4 October 1965, 1, 16. The journalese expression kha pleuay [stripped and murdered], commonly used in the headlines of stories about sex murders, implies that the victim was raped.
57. "Police Search Berrigan House," Bangkok Post, 9 October 1965, 1.
58. Thai Rath, 4 October 1965, 16.
59. "Kathoey phoey chiwit 'lakkaphet' Berrigan - wa Hang dek-num thana sami," Thai Rath, 9 October 1965, 1, 16. Lakkaphet denotes cross-dressing or, more generally, impersonating the opposite sex. Strictly speaking, it describes a behavior rather than an identity, although in 1960s Thai journalese it was sometimes used as a synonym for kathoey. In contrast, kathoey denotes an identity, not merely cross-dressing behavior, and covers a range of phenomena variously called transgenderism, transsexuality, and homosexuality in Western discourses.
60. Manoj Vudha, "Thai Press Opinion," Bangkok World, 5 October 1965, 4.
61. "Today's Thai Headlines," Bangkok Post, 7 October 1965, 2;
62. "Tarn-la 'kathoey' phok peun khadi kha bk. farang - khon Bangkok World ha lak-than - phoey phon-phisut 'thawan' chofer mai phop cheua asuji," Thai Rath, 7 October 1965, 1, 16.
63. Manoj, "Thai Press Opinion," 4.
64. "Today's Thai Headlines," Bangkok Post, 8 October 1965, 3.
65. The second headline appears to refer to a story, run in the Thai-language Siam Nikorn and summarized in the Bangkok World's report of the Thai press, about Interpols involvement in the inquiries: "A member of Interpol who had wanted to examine two transvestites at a local hotel at 1.00 am Friday had given 200 Baht to them as hotel tariff; but they had made good their escape with the money" (Manoj Vudha, "Thai Press Opinion: Berry Case," Bangkok World, 10 October 1965, 4). In the tense drama of finding the killer, this event provided a moment of comic relief: Thai press sympathies lay with the wily Thai kathoey, who had hoodwinked the dimwitted farang investigators.
66. Vudha, "Thai Press Opinion: Berry Case," Bangkok World, 9 October 1965, 4.
67. "Kathoey phoey chiwit 'lakkaphet' Berrigan," 1, 16.
68. Bangkok World, 5 October 1965, 1, 4, 8;
69. Thai Rath, 5 October 1965, 1, 16.
70. "Berrigan Case - Murder Mystery Remains Unsolved," Bangkok World, 6 October 1965, 1;
71. "30,000 Baht Reward Offered: Chasing the Farang Editor's Murderer, Police Investigate 'Homosexual' Clues" [Tang sin-bon sam mean - la khatakorn kha bk. farang, tr. sorp pom "rak-ruam-phet"], Siam Nikorn, 6 October 1965, 1, 8.
72. Thai Rath, 7 October 1965, 16.
73. Siam Nikorn, 9 October 1965, 8;
74. Thai Rath, 9 October 1965, 16.
75. Thai Rath, 9 October 1965, 16.
76. Pers. com., 14 February 1997. The informant requests anonymity.
77. "Berrigan Killer to Re-enact Crime," Bangkok Post, 14 October 1965, 1;
78. "Berrigan Murder Case to Be Wrapped Up Soon," Bangkok World, 19 October 1965, 1.
79. "'Meu-peun' kha bk. farang jon mum, tamruat tam jap dai thang kaeng phrorm 'peun marana,' saraphap ying khana 'fak rak' Berrigan," Thai Rath, 14 October 1965, 1, 16.
80. "Berrigan Murder Probe: Accused Would 'Kill for Pittance,'" Bangkok Post, 16 October 1965, 1.
81. Andrew Harris, Bangkok after Dark (New York: MacFadden-Bartell, 1968), 82.
82. Bangkok Post, 14 October 1965, 1.
83. "Berrigan Murder Case: Killer's Associates Revise Statements," Bangkok World, 20 October 1965, 1, 8.
84. "Berrigan Killer Confesses Crime," Bangkok World, 14 October 1965, 8;
85. Thai Rath, 14 October 1965, 16.
86. Thai Rath, 14 October 1965, 16.
87. "Killer Re-enacts Crime: Berrigan Murder Motive Still Mystery to Police," Bangkok World, 15 October 1965, 1, 8.
88. "Berrigan Murder Case Closed," Bangkok World, 22 December 1965, 1.
89. One expatriate American who knew Berrigan in Bangkok (see n. 54) reflected on the fates of Berrigan's adopted sons and the murderers: "One [son] inherited the World and is now, I believe, resident in the U.S., while the other rose to a quite high position in the government and recently retired. . . . Since the murderers were not executed, I would guess they have been released by now."
90. Thai Rath, 9 October 1965, 16.
91. Thai Rath, 17 October 1965, 3.
92. "Wanted Evidence Not Found, Names of Two Soi Leucha Kathoey Released" [Mai phop lak-than thi torng-kan, phoey cheu 2 kathoey soi leucha], Thai Rath, 10 October 1965, 1, 16.
93. The borrowed English term grade is used here as a synonym for chan, or "class."
94. In some 1960s press reports kathoey is used before people's names as a gendered title in association with other gendered titles, such as nai [Mr.], nang [Mrs.], and nang-sao [Miss], which indicates that it was seen as a distinct gender category alongside normative masculine and feminine identities.
95. I wish to thank Nerida Cook for her observation that age, class, and other hierarchies helped define one's positioning as a kathoey.
96. Vudha, "Thai Press Opinion: Berry Case," Bangkok World, 10 October 1965, 4;
97. Manoj Vudha, "Thai Press Opinion: Berry's Murder," Bangkok World, 11 October 1965, 4.
98. "Tr. kwat kathoey sorp - khlai pom khadi kha bk. farang," Siam Nikorn, 5 October 1965, 1, 7, 8.
99. Thai Rath, 9 October 1965, 16.
100. Here the two males labeled kathoey are nevertheless given the masculine gender title nai [Mr.]. By contrast, the report noted above assigns two other masculine males the title kathoey. The inconsistency in assigned gender titles in different press reports further indicates the confusion in representing these men.
101. Thai Rath, 7 October 1965, 16. Phu-chai khai tua may be translated either as "men who sell their bodies" or as "men who sell themselves." The expression khai tua, "to sell one's body/oneself," was already widely used in the 1960s to describe female prostitutes.
102. I learned that this expression was subcultural argot when my use of it during a seminar at Chiang Mai University in 1994 elicited laughter from the mainly heterosexual Thai audience. When I asked why, the response was that it sounded funny [plaek di] because it was an unfamiliar play on the well-known expression phu-ying khai tua [lit. "a woman who sells her body"], widely used to describe female sex workers.
103. "Thai Rath phop laeng 'phu-chai khai tua' - mi samachik ruam 200, rai-dai sung," Thai Rath, 11 October 1965, 1, 2, 16.
104. Thai script is phonetic, and in transcriptions of borrowed words each letter of the English alphabet is usually represented by a corresponding Thai letter. Even a silent letter, such as the h in John, is preserved in Thai spellings; a superscript karan indicates that it is not pronounced. The first Thai spelling of gay was a letter-by-letter transcription of the English, with the y marked by a karan.
105. "Arayachon nai mum meut," Thai Rath, 15 October 1965, 3.
106. See Peter A. Jackson, "Male Homosexuality and Transgenderism in the Thai Buddhist Tradition," in Queer Dharma: Voices of Gay Buddhists, ed. Winston Leyland (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine, 1998), 55-89.
107. Thai Rath, 16 October 1965, 3.
108. "Medical Circles" [Wong-kan phaet], "Researching 'Kathoey' Solving the Homosexual Problem" [Wijai "kathoey,"kae panha rak-ruam-phet], Siam Nikorn, 18 October 1965, 1;
109. Bang Yikhan, "Achip mai haeng num Thai," Siam Nikorn, 1 December 1965, 4.
110. Si-siat, "Hai phuak 'gay' rawang tua ja don map rew-rew ni," Thai Rath, 17 October 1965, 3, 11.
111. "Ruap klum num rap-jang pen phua phu-chai, saraphap farang niyom, tang kaeng mua-sum nap roi riak 'chomrom gay' dai deuan 2-3 phan," Phim Thai, 25 November 1965, 1. The term chomrom denotes an association of professionals or those with similar interests or backgrounds. The young male prostitutes seem to have used this formal term ironically, lending an air of respectability and status to their marginal lifestyles.
112. "Riak tua kaeng 'gay' ma op-rom, phoey nak-seuksa suan mak ruam 200," Phim Thai, 25 November 1965, 1.
113. Scot Barmé, "Towards a Social History of Bangkok: Gender, Class, and Popular Culture in the Siamese Capital, 1905-1940" (Ph.D. diss., Australian National University, 1998);
114. Rachel Harrison, "The Madonna and the Whore: Self/Other Tensions in the Characterisation of the Prostitute by Thai Female Authors," in Jackson and Cook, Genders and Sexualilies in Modern Thailand.
115. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, trans. Robert Hurley, vol. 1 (New York: Vintage, 1978).
116. See Jackson, "Kathoey < > Gay < > Man," 166-90.
117. For a detailed account of "king"-"queen" relations see Jackson, Dear Uncle Go, 24.
118. See Jackson, Dear Uncle Go, 255-57.
119. John D'Emilio, Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University (New York: Routledge, 1992);
120. Evans, Sexual Citizenship;
121. Morton, "Global (Sexual) Politics," 1-30;
122. Connors, "Missing Gender and the Fetishism of Sex." I am especially grateful to Connors for his comments on the relationship between capitalism and the masculinization of male homosexual identities in recent decades.
123. Altman, "Rupture or Continuity?" 91.
124. "Kathoey khaen faen nork-jai chai sai fai phan tua-eng lae chu-rak ploi krasae fai khao tua wang tai khu kan," Thai Rath, 28 November 1965, 1, 16.
125. "Kathoey ying thing ja-akat ek 'pheuan norn' khaen phlan ngern phla rak - lork khor jor ying ok nai ran-ahan, buat phrorm kan laew seuk ma pen phua-mia," Phim Thai, 10 December 1965, 1, 15.
126. None of the Thai armed forces has ever barred homosexually active men from enlisting or attaining officer rank.