Three-day seminar examines state of the nation
With the Thai state facing various problems such as border lands, stateless people and conflict in the predominantly Muslim deep South, about 300 scholars will share their views on the situation at a three-day anthropological seminar titled "State: From daily life's point of view" this week.
A discourse on the construction of national history will also be among the topics of discussion at the seminar, to be held from Wednesday to Friday at the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre. Thirty research papers on a variety of issues will be presented at the seminar, including "Monitoring the government's policies with concern: Opinions of Muslims in the southern border provinces about public policies" by Muslim scholar Abdulroya Panaemalae from Walailak University; "Mae Hong Son on the canvas: The construction of national history and archaeology on the land of stateless people" by Pipad Kraijaejun, an MA student at Chulalongkorn University, and "Negotiating borderlines: Everyday practices of ethnic people in a Thai border community" by Atchara Rakyutitham, a PhD candidate at Chiang Mai University. From his experience as a Muslim in southern Thailand, Abdulroya wrote in his paper's abstract that state programmes implemented in the area have often had negative effects on the lives of Muslim people, and in some cases have led to conflict and violence between the Muslim community and the central government. "Because the Thai-Muslim people in the Muslim-majority provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala hold to their religion strictly, it is difficult for them to accept anything that does not conform to their beliefs. As a corollary, conflicts may occur if government policies do not match with the religion they hold. As a result, they will be reluctant to wholeheartedly cooperate with the government policies," he stated. Pipad, who has been studying the history and archaeology of Mae Hong Son, found that in the process of constructing a national history, Thailand adopts some non-Thai ethnic groups as part of the nation while neglecting others whose histories do not fit in with the national history. "As a result, these latter groups are finally constructed as the stateless people," he wrote. Meanwhile, Atchara's paper explores the oral history of various ethnic groups living together in Baan Naisoi, a village on the Thai-Burma border in Mae Hong Song's Pangmoo subdistrict. Foreign scholar Peter Vail, who is doing a research on the northeastern border of Thailand, will present a paper on "The stateless encounter the state: Interactional sociolinguistics and narrative analysis on the Thai-Lao border". "By looking at the minutiae of concrete interactions, we can see the particular forms state power takes at its fringes among marginal people living within state territory but lacking legitimate membership," he stated. Among other papers to be presented are "From slave labour to illegal migrant workers: Transnational people in state, state in transnational people" by Adisorn Kerdmongkol; "Marginal people and state power watch: A case of Akha community in Thailand" by Kanokrat Yossakrai; "Taiyai diaspora: How do we survive in the other space?" by Thanwa Benjawan, and "Thai diaspora and the problems of the Thai nation-state" by Thirawuth Senakham. The seminar will close with two special keynote speeches, one on "State in Thai history" by Prof Nidhi Eoseewongse and the other on "Future of the study on the Thai State" by Prof Thongchai Winichakul. More information on the seminar can be obtained by calling (02) 880 9429, extensions 3206 and 3315.
Subhatra Bhumiprabhas The Nation
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