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Becoming Indigenous Peoples in Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2019

Prasit Leepreecha
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Abstract

This article investigates the processes of becoming Indigenous Peoples in Thailand by tracing the transnational relationships and influences of global Indigenous movements on the creation of the Network and the Council of Indigenous Peoples in Thailand (NIPT and CIPT). In addition, it examines the Indigenous Peoples’ movement toward both internal and external recognition. I argue that in Thailand the Indigenous Peoples movement stems from the global movement and exists in relation to international organisations. Within Thailand, the movement represents a deterritorialisation of the ethnoscape, with those now identified as Indigenous Peoples previously being identified as ‘tribal peoples’, ‘ethnic minorities’, or ‘Others’ who threatened national security. Indigenous Peoples are also self-identifying as native and marginalised peoples whose basic rights must be recognised and who advocate for equal treatment as citizens. Yet, the Indigenous Peoples’ movement in Thailand is developing through a process of ongoing negotiations with various internal and external sectors. As a Hmong anthropologist and long-time participant in the Indigenous movement in Thailand, in addition to secondary sources, I draw mainly on personal observations and interviews with key informants.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 32 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2019 

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Footnotes

The author would like to thank Professor Shigeharu Tanabe, an affiliate scholar at the Centre for Ethnic Studies and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, for sharing his knowledge on the concept of the community of becoming, which is very useful for analysing the Indigenous Peoples’ movement in Thailand. I am grateful to Ian Baird for encouraging me to finish this article and polishing my English as well. In addition, I would like to thank the two anonymous peer reviewers for their very useful comments and suggestions.

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