Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand: Memory, Place and Power

by Ross King

Overview

Using Thailand as a case study, Ross King examines the role of place in the formation of identity through memory. Employing the idea of French historian Pierre Nora that because we no longer live in environments of memory—places where the past is still vividly alive—we compensate by attaching ourselves to sites of memory, King explores whether Thailand offers an alternative vision, a place where modernity and heritage coexist. He looks closely at the myths of ancient Thai cities, the remaining royal palaces, historical monuments, small towns and villages, and the proliferating slums of Bangkok in order to create a unique and nuanced perspective of contemporary Thailand and its many ideas of Thai identity.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814722278
Publisher:	Nus Press Pte Ltd
Publication date:	06/15/2017
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ross King is a professorial fellow in the faculty of architecture building and planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Reading Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya: Negotiating Urban Space in Malaysia, also published by the National University of Singapore Press.
 

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Part 1 Introduction 1

1 The Social Construction of Heritage 3

Part 2 Lieux de Mémoire: Heritage and Memory 31

2 Heritage and Imagination: Chiang Saen Ross King Weeraphan Shinawatra 35

3 Heritage and Interpretation: A Tale of Three Palaces Ross King Sompong Amnuay-ngerntra 48

4 Heritage and Dialectics: The Ambiguities of Love in Thai Heritage Ross King Supatra Boonpanyarote 68

5 Heritage and Gender in Thai (Lanna) History and Memory Ross King Ratchaneekorn Sae-Wang 93

6 Whose Heritage? The Japanese Colonisation of Thailand Ross King Sakesit Paksee 106

7 Hidden Heritage (1): Photharam and the Problem of Local Heritage Ross King Rathirat Khewmesuin 119

Part 3 Milieux de Mémoire: Heritage, Memory and Inequality

8 The Khlong Ross King Cuttaleeya Jiraprasertkun 141

9 Hidden Heritage (2): Sukhumvit 71 Ross King Pumin Varavan 161

10 Informality as Heritage Ross King Boonanan Natakun 181

11 Craft as Heritage: The Dilemma of the Craft Communities of Bangkok Ross King Pensiri Chartniyom 196

12 Heritage and the Dispersal of Culture: The Phutai Ross King Jinnapas Pathumporn 213

13 Ban Pa-Ao, Pro-poor Tourism and the Question of Values Ross King Sairoong Dinkoksung 228

Part 4 Conclusion 249

14 Consuming Heritage, and the Tourist Gaze 251

Glossary 264

Notes 268

Bibliography 281

List of Contributors 302

Index 305

Editorial Reviews

Elegantly presented, the book offers comprehensive, insightful and penetrating analyses of its deep subject and sound conclusions in the light of leading scholarship in the field.

John H. Stubbs