Ministering culture: Hegemony and the politics of culture and identity in Thailand

Critical Asian Studies

Volumn 37, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 523-551

  Connors, Michael Kelly ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL INFLUENCE; HEGEMONY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION;

ASIA; EURASIA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; THAILAND;

EID: 33244479217     PISSN: 14672715     EISSN: 14726033     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/114672710500348414     Document Type: Review

References (117)

1. Visanu Kreaugnam, "Ekkalak khong chat" (National identity), Warasan Thai (Thai Culture) 24 (October-December 2003): 27-40, 36.
2. Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1971).
3. Such defining and shaping need not be coercive; rather it resides in power relations constituted in compromise and contest, where hegemony expresses itself as a broad consensus on the major features of political, economic, and social life.
4. Gramsci, Selections, 263.
5. In recent years some excellent Thai scholarship has explored the technologies of nationalist production. These include Chonida Phrahomphayat Pheauksom, Kanmuang nai prawathisat thong chat thai (Politics in the history of the Thai national flag) (Bangkok: Matichon, 2003)
6. Somsak Jeamteerasakul, "Prawathisat wan chatthai jak 24 mithuna thueng 5 thanwa" (History of Thai National Day from 24 June to 5 December), Faa Diawkan 2, no. 2 (2004): 70-135;
7. Manit Nuanla-o, Kanmuang thai yuk sanyalak ratthai (Thai politics: The era of Thai state symbolism) (Bangkok: Mahawitthayalai kasetthasat, 1997).
8. On education, see Neils Mulder, Thai Images: The Culture of the Public World (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1997)
9. Charles F. Keyes, ed., Reshaping Local Worlds: Formal Education and Cultural Change in Rural Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 1991).
10. Patrick Jory, "Thai Identity, Globalisation and Advertising Culture," Asian Studies Review 23, no. 4 (1999): 461-87;
11. Kasian Tejapira, "The Post-Modernization of Thai-ness," in House of Glass: Culture, Modernity, and the State in Southeast Asia, ed. Yao Souchou (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2001).
12. See various issues of Watthanatham Thai (Thai Culture). On the attempt to define national identity from the 1970s onwards, see Michael K. Connors, Democracy and National Identity in Thailand (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 128-53.
13. For a discussion on the significance of what may be called "nation-reminders," see Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism (London and Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1995).
14. I am not suggesting that intra-state violence alone accounts for the upsurge in violence that by the end of 2004 left over five hundred dead in Thailand's deep South. But I would argue that it has played a significant role, and has also provided a environment in which extremist religious politics can grow. See Michael K. Connors, "Thailand: The Facts and F(r)ictions of Ruling," in Southeast Asian Affairs 2005, ed. Daljit Singh and Chin Kin Wah (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2004), 377-79;
15. Koi-lin Anwa and Suphalak Kanjonkhun, Fai tai krai jut (Who is lighting the Southern Fire?) (Bangkok: Indochina Publishing, 2004), 79-122.
16. See, for example, Nophakhun Limsamarnphun, "It's Time for All Good Thais to Show Their Patriotic Spirit," The Nation, 21 November, 2004, on-line edition.
17. Thongchai, Winichakul, Siam Mapped: The History of the Geo-Body of a Nation (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1994), 9.
18. Peter A. Jackson, "The Performative State: Semi-Coloniality and the Tyranny of Images in Modern Thailand," Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 19, no. 2 (2004): 219-53.
19. Ibid., 219-20, 239.
20. In another article, Jackson explores the impact of the regime on Thai subjectivities: "The Thai Regime of Images," Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 19, no. 2 (2004): 181-218.
21. Eiji Murashima, "The Origin of Modern Official State Ideology in Thailand," Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 19, no.1 (1989): 80-96.
22. Luang Wichit Wathakarn, "Manutsapatiwat" (Human revolution), in Patikatha lae khambanyai Luang Wichit Wathakan, lem 2 (The addresses and speeches of Luang Wichit Wathakan) (Bangkok: Borisat sangsan, 2003), 419-40, 426-27.
23. Ibid., 427.
24. See Saichon Sattayanurak, "The Establishment of Mainstream Thought on 'Thai Nation' and 'Thai-ness' by Luang Wichit Wathakan," in Tai Culture: International Review on Thai Studies 7, no. 2 (2002): 7-34;
25. Saichon Sattayanurak, Khwamplienplaeng nai kansang chat thai lae khwampenthai doi Luang Wichit Wathakan (Change in creating the Thai nation and Thai-ness by Luang Wichit Wathakan) (Bangkok: Matichon, 2003);
26. also Scott Barmé, Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of Thai Identity (Singapore: ISEAS, 1993).
27. Connors, Democracy and National Identity in Thailand, 5-31. The term obviously follows Thongchai's neologism "geo-body" in Thongchai, Siam Mapped.
28. Phupa Thipsuphakun, "Thatsana khong samachik phu thaen ratsadon do naiyobai watthanatham khong Phibun" (The attitude of members of the House of Representatives towards Phibun's culture policy), unpublished MA thesis (Chulalongkorn University, 1987), 20.
29. Phibun also explained to the minister of education in 1942 that "The exhibition of high culture by the people is one way of maintaining the sovereignty of the nation." Cited in Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian, Thailand's Durable Premier: Phibun through Three Decades, 1932-1957 (Kuala Lumpur and New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 110.
30. Mary Matossian, "Ideologies of Delayed Industrialisation: Some Tensions and Ambiguities," in Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science, ed. John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith (London: Routledge, 2000), 805-17, 813. Italics in the original.
31. Tamada Yoshifumi, "Political Implications of Phibun's Cultural Policy, 1938-1941." Final report submitted to the National Research Council of Thailand, February 1994.
32. Royal Thai Government, Phrarachabanyat watthanatham haeng chat (National culture act), 1942. This Act replaced the 1940 Act and its 1942 amended version.
33. Mahawitthayalai Sukhothaithammathirat, Prasopkan Watthanatham Suksa (Cultural studies experience) (Bangkok: Mahawitthayalai sukhothaithammathirat, 1990), 429. This source notes that Thailand's membership in Unesco in 1949 played a role in the formation of the Ministry of Culture.
34. See Kobkua, Thailand's Durable Premier, 84-85;
35. Maurizio Peleggi, The Politics of Ruins and the Business of Nostalgia (Bangkok: White Lotus, 2002), 18.
36. Thak Chaloemtiarana, Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism (Bangkok: Thammasat University Press, 1979).
37. Phonphirom Chiangkun, "Kanmuang thai samai jomphon sarit thanarat prachathipatai beap thai" (Thai politics in the era of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat: Thai-style democracy), Warasan sangkhomsat lae manutsayasat 29 (July-December 2003): 11-22, 16.
38. Somboon Suksamran, Buddhism and Political Legitimacy (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Printing House, 1993), 62-71.
39. See Mark T. Berger, "Decolonisation, Modernisation and Nation-building: Political Development Theory and the Appeal of Communism in Southeast Asia, 1945-1975," Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34, no. 3 (2003): 421-48;
40. Paul Cammack, Capitalism and Democracy in the Third World (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1997).
41. Civic culture is described as a mixed political culture based on acceptance of authority, rooted in tradition, and having a level of parochialism. These features were tempered, however, by a generalized acceptance of some level of participation in society. Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963).
42. Connors, Democracy and National Identity, 69-81.
43. Benedict Anderson, "Withdrawal Symptoms: Social and Cultural Aspects of the October 6 Coup," Bulletin of Concerned Asia Scholars 9, no. 2 (1977): 13-30;
44. Katherine Bowie, Rituals of National Loyalty: An Anthropology of the State and the Village Scout Movement in Thailand (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 183-232.
45. See Ji Ungphakon and Surachai Yimpraset, Achayakamratta nai wikritkanpliangplaeng (Crimes of the state) (Bangkok: Khannakammakan rapkhomun lae seup phayan hetkan 6 Dulakhom 2519, 2001).
46. Connors, Democracy and National Identity, 128-53, 236-39;
47. "Introduction: National Identity and Its Defenders," in National Identity and its Defenders: Thailand Today, ed. Craig Reynolds (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002), 1-32.
48. Samnakngan khannakammakan watthanatham haeng chat (National Culture Commission), Mong adit pheu anakhot 15 pi samnakngan khannakammakan watthanatham haeng chat (Looking to the past for the future: Fifteen years of the National Culture Commission) (Bangkok: National Culture Commission, 1994), 28.
49. Ibid.
50. See Connors, Democracy and National Identity, 236-39.
51. The history of the NIB is somewhat unclear. Before the NIB took on its current form in 1980, as an agency within the Office of Prime Minister, it existed as a committee with close association to the National Security Council. Systemization and bureaucratic elevation in 1980 reflected greater ideological coherence. The Board's secretariat is the National Identity Office.
52. Samnakngan ekkalak haeng chart (National Identity Office), "Phaenngan sermsang ekkalak khong chat" (Plan to promote national identity), available on-line at http://www.opm.go.th/thai/m03.asp. Accessed 1 August 2004.
53. Samnakngan khanakammakan watthanatham haeng chat (National Culture Commission), Phaen maebot khrongkanseaupsan watthanatham thai 2537-2540 (Master Plan, project for the preservation of Thai culture, 1994-1997), 6.
54. Pitch Pongsawat, "Thaksinniyom ek thi" (Thaksinism, once more, in Thaksinomik (Thaksinomics), ed. Jurairat Saenjairak (Bangkok: Munithiwithitthat, 2004), 139-72.
55. Unesco, "Culture Policies," available on-line at http://portal.unesco.org/culture/ en/ ev.php-URL_ID=1388&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Accessed 14 April 2005.
56. Marc Askew, "A Soft Centre? UNESCO and the Uses of World Heritage, An Exploration of Theory and Research," paper presented at the Research Seminar: "UNESCO: Agency of Cultural Globalisation?" 20 June 2003, Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific, Deakin University, 5.
57. Ibid., 7.
58. Ibid.
59. Peleggi, The Politics of Ruins, 7-8;
60. see also Marc Askew, "The Rise of Moradok and the Decline of Yarn: Heritage and Cultural Construction in Urban Thailand," SOJOURN 11, no. 2 (1996): 183-210.
61. For a wonderful discussion of the politics of the Inscription, see Mukhom Wongthes, Intellectual Might and National Myth: A Forensic Investigation of the Ram Khamhaeng Controversy in Thai Society (Bangkok: Matichon, 2003).
62. Unesco, "Thailand: The King Ram Khamhaeng Inscription," available on-line at http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ ev.php-URL_ID=7880&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Accessed 14 April 2005.
63. Jurarat Saengbunnam, "Khwam ruam meu rawang prathet Thai kap ongkan Unesco" (Cooperation between Thailand and UNESCO), Warasan khannakammakanhaeng chat wa duay kansuksa (Journal on the National Committee on Education) 34, no. 2-3 (2002): 28-32, 30.
64. Unesco's Asian Regional Office for Primary and Compulsory Education was established in 1961 in Bangkok. In 1987, as the office absorbed further functions in relation to culture, communications and science, it was renamed the Principal Regional Office for Asia and Pacific. Thailand, then, has been the site of a major international cultural educational, scientific, and cultural organization. See Unesco Bangkok, "About Us," available on-line at http://www.unescobkk.org/about.htm). Accessed 27 July 2004.
65. Michael Nelson offers a different reading of "diffusion" in relation to Thailand, as well as a provocative critique of Thai-ness, in "World Society in Thailand: Globalization Confronts Thai-ness," in KPI Yearbook 2004, ed. Michael Nelson (Bangkok: King Prachatipok's Institute, 2005).
66. Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 17.
67. See Duncan J. McCargo, ed., Reforming Thai Politics (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2002).
68. Connors, Democracy and National Identity in Thailand, 216-32.
69. See Michael K. Connors, "Goodbye to the Security State: Ideological Change in Thailand," Journal of Contemporary Asia 33, no. 4 (2003): 431-48.
70. These developments were in line with what Mark Duffield has described as the new "development ethos," which includes an emphasis on "such things as conflict resolution and prevention, reconstructing social networks, strengthening civil and representative institutions, promoting the rule of law, and securing sector reform in the context of a functioning market economy." See Mark Duffield, Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security (London: Zed Books, 2001), 11.
71. See Pasuk Phongphaichit and Chris Baker, Thailand's Crisis (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2000), 193-216.
72. See Craig Reynolds, "Globalisation and Cultural Nationalism in Modern Thailand," in Southeast Asian Identities: Culture and the Politics of Representation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, ed. Joel S. Kahn (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1998), 115-45;
73. Craig Reynolds, "Thai Identity in the Age of Globalization," in Reynolds, National Identity and Its Defenders, 308-38.
74. See Duncan J. McCargo, "Populism and Reformism in Contemporary Thailand," South East Asia Research 9, no. 1 (2001): 89-107;
75. Kevin Hewison, "Resisting Globalization: A Study of Localism in Thailand," The Pacific Review 13, no. 2 (2000): 279-96.
76. Board of Investment (Thailand), "Bureaucratic Reform," available on-line at http://www.boi.go.th/english/tid/data/ prd_pr_02sep23bur-reform.html. Accessed 25 July 2004.
77. The Nation, 17 November 2001, on-line edition.
78. "Bureaucratic Reform: Plan for New Ministry of Culture, Tourism," The Nation, 26 November 2001, on-line edition.
79. Pararop Laewwanit, "Jak khwamdaektang nai khwam khit su krasuang watthanatham" (From difference in ideas, towards the Ministry of Culture), Phujatkan, 24 September 2002, 9.
80. Chakrarot Chitrabongs, "Naewnaiyabai kantangkrasuang watthanatham" (Policies on the establishment of the Ministry of Culture), in Samnakngan watthanatham haeng chat (National Culture Commission), Prachachon dai arai jak kantang krasuang watthanatham (What do the people get from the establishment of a Ministry of Culture?) (Bangkok: Samnakgnan khannakammakan watthanatham haeng chat, 2002), 5-12, 9-10.
81. Kowit Phokamat, "Sapha wattanatham yutthasaat kanphatthana watthanatham haeng chat yangyean" (Culture Councils: Development strategy for sustainable national culture), Watthanatham Thai (Thai Culture) 34, no. 2 (1997): 45-49,46.
82. The NCC had pushed for the establishment of the Culture Councils in the early 1990s and after several pilot schemes, Culture Councils began receiving modest budgets in 1995. The Councils were ideally composed of 20 percent civil servants and 80 percent civilians drawn from diverse elements in society. The formation of these Councils was an outcome of national development policy to create "partnerships" between state and society in various forums (prachakhom). See Michael K. Connors, "Ideological Aspects of Democratization: The Mainstreaming of Localism," Working Paper No. 12, Southeast Asian Research Centre, City University, Hong Kong, October 2001, 15-16. Available on-line at http://www.cityu.edu.hk/searc/WP12_01_Connors.pdf.
83. Pararop Laewwanit, "Jak khwamdaektang": The Relevant Law Is Thai Royal Government, Act Amending Ministry, Sub-Ministry and Department, 2002.
84. National Culture Commission, Prachachon dai arai.
85. "2 Prat chaw ban Nitthi Aeosriwongse - Sujit Wongthep cham la krasuang watthanatham" (Two village philosophers Nitthi Aeosriwongse - Sujit Wongthep analyse the Ministry of Culture), Siam Rat Sapda, 4-10 October 2002, 35-37.
86. I owe this point to Duncan McCargo. During February 2005 when he and I were observing the Thai national election, we found confirmation of the language of A-, B-, and C-grade ministries when a local politician close to a minister in the first Thaksin administration willingly described the Ministry of Culture as a C-grade ministry, and noted that it was hoped in the next administration a more lucrative Ministry would be offered.
87. The number in Snoh's faction is quite fluid; by 2005 it had been substantially reduced.
88. Ong-at Suwanchoti, "Mia ma thaen" (The wife substitute), Khao Sut, 5 October 2002, on-line edition.
89. See also Suraphot Thawisak, "Meu rathamontri wa krasuang watthanatham ma jak watthanatham" (When the Minister of Culture comes from patronage culture), Matichon, 16 October 2002, 6.
90. Thai Royal Government, Act Amending Ministry, Sub-Ministry and Department, 2002.
91. "Kanphim Kiaw Krasuang watthanatham" (Green Paper, Ministry of Culture), Matichon, 4 October 2002, 20.
92. These include Kraingsak Choonhaven, the progressive son of former prime minister Chatchai, and Niran Phitakwacha, who is closely associated with NGOs involved in anticorruption and public participation campaigns.
93. "Ya hen ngan watthanatham pen reaug lek" (Don't think that culture work is a little thing), Phutjakan, 3 October 2002, 5.
94. In the lead-up to the establishment of the Ministry, conservative monks argued that Buddhism should be the official national religion, and they rallied for a Ministry of Buddhism and Culture. In the end, a rather unsatisfactory compromise (protests continue) was reached whereby a Department of Religion, administering a plurality of religions, is housed in the Ministry of Culture, while a National Office of Buddhism is located in the Office of Prime Minister. See "Monks Protest: Leaders Take on Thaksin," The Nation, 21 September 2002, on-line edition;
95. and Phra Sripariyatthimoli (Somchai Kusonjittho), "Krasuang watthanatham thi rai satsana kho phijarana" (The Ministry of Culture without religion: Points to consider), Matichon, 8 July 2002, on-line edition.
96. Nongnuan Rathanaprathip, "Paet rang phaen maebot watthanatham pi 46" (Opening the draft master plan for culture, 2003), Khao Sut, 3 January 2003, on-line edition.
97. Ministry of Culture, Rang phaen maebot watthanatham haeng chat (Draft master plan on national culture), 2003.
98. Ibid., 4.
99. Ibid. I have used the English translation of this document to guide my own translation. Direct use of that translation was not feasible, however, given evident omissions and inconsistencies. For example, the Thai phrase khaorop phuyai is translated as "gerontocracy." The phrase could be translated as "respect of adults" or "respect for people of perceived status." I have chosen the most obvious translation of the term, respect for the elderly, which I gather is what the Ministry's translator was attempting to convey in using the term "gerontocracy." Both the English and Thai documents were on the Ministry's website, but have since been removed. Copies are in my possession.
100. Ibid., 11.
101. Krom Prachasamphan (Public Relations Department), "Ratthamontri wa krasuang watthanatham driam prapphaen yutthasat lae wisaithat khong krasuang" (The Minister of Culture prepares to adjust the strategy and vision of the Ministry), 29 December 2003.
102. See Siam Rat, 9 December 2003 and 11 January 2004, on-line editions;
103. Khom Chat Luk, 5 January 2004.
104. Krasuang Watthanatham (Ministry of Culture), Phaen yutthasat krasuang watthanatham (Strategic plan of the Ministry of Culture), 2004. Available online at http://www.m-culture.go.th/culture01/. Accessed 2 August 2004. The Thaksin government has attempted to reinvent the Thai bureaucracy by injecting the ethos of the chief executive officer into its functioning.
105. "Anurak nun yup watthanatham ruam thong thiaw" (Anurak supports the abolition of the Ministry of Culture, to combine with Tourism), Daily News, 30 December 2003, on-line edition.
106. Surichai Wan'gaeo, Phachuen lokapiwat thang watthanatham (Confronting cultural globalization) (Bangkok: Ministry of Culture, 2004).
107. Surichai, Confronting Cultural Globalization, 5.
108. See "Introduction," in Reynolds, National Identity and Its Defenders, 13.
109. Chakrarot Chitrabongs, The Selected Articles by M.R. Chakrarot Chitrabongs. Available on-line at http://www.m-culture.go.th/culture01/ culture01-uploads/libs/document//2de8857f44.pdf, p. 1. Accessed 1 August 2004.
110. Craig J. Reynolds, "The Plot of Thai History: Theory and Practice," in Patterns and Illusions: Thai History and Thought, ed. Gehan Wijeyewardene and E.C. Chapman (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1992).
111. See Patrick Jory, "Problems in Contemporary Thai Nationalist Historiography," Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 3, 2003. On-line journal available at http://kyotoreview.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/issue/issue2/ index.html.
112. Chakrarot, Selected Articles, 29-43.
113. Ibid., 27.
114. Krasuang Watthanatham (Ministry of Culture), Phalang thong thin, nai krasae khwamplianplaeng watthanatham (The power of the local in the currents of cultural change) (Bangkok: Ministry of Culture, 2003).
115. This term is normally translated as "self-sufficiency" economy, though Duncan McCargo notes that the king's preferred translation is "sufficiency economy" (personal communication, 6 January 2005). I continue to translate it as "the modest economy." This rendering captures the nature of the king's thoughts - he does not advocate an autarkic system at any level. The alternative translation also captures something of the Buddhist doctrine of moderation, clearly evident in the king's thinking.
116. Anek Nakabut, "Pathika Piset" (Special address), in Ministry of Culture, Phalang thong thin, 6-22, at p. 9.
117. See United Nations Development Program, Thailand Human Development Report 2003, chap. 3. Available on-line at http://hdrc.undp.org.in/APRI/ NHDR_Rgn/Thailand/.