Understanding Marriage: Chinese Weddings in Singapore

Master'sMASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

COLONIAL CHOREOGRAPHY: STAGING SRI LANKAN DANCERS UNDER BRITISH COLONIAL RULE FROM THE 1870s – 1930s

In textbooks the terms “Kandyan dance” and its equivalent in the Sinhala language “udarata nätuma” are used to describe the dance tradition that was predominantly practiced in the Kandyan region of Sri Lanka. Nationalist histories portray Kandyan dance as a continuation of a pristine tradition that was passed down from ancient Sinhala kingdoms. As the Sinhala nationalist discourse glorified Kandyan dance vis à vis its Tamil counterpart, it obscured the British colonial encounter with Kandyan dancers by leaving out a part of the rich history of dance. As I demonstrate in this dissertation, colonialism transformed to a significant extent the Kandyan dancescape of the British colonial period, particularly between the 1870s and 1930s. Therefore, this dissertation re-examines the history of the so-called tradition of Kandyan dance with the focus on the British colonial encounter with performers of the Kandyan region. As a Sri Lankan dancer, I try to trace and interpret the histories of dancers that were ignored or shrouded in silence in colonial and Sinhala national histories. As a historian, I interpret archival materials through textual and visual analysis while as a dancer, I interpret archival materials through my embodied knowledge of Kandyan dance. I examine: How did the Sinhalese devil dance become a showpiece during the British colonial period, setting the ground for it to be elevated with the new name of “Kandyan dance”? Who defined its aesthetic parameters and repertoire? How did the performers respond to their colonial experience? I argue that, with the help of the native elites, the colonizers displaced, mobilized, manipulated, staged, and displayed performers of the Kandyan region for the benefit of colonial audiences through processions organized for British royal dignitaries, colonial exhibitions, photographs, and travel films. I call this process “colonial choreography”, which defined the aesthetic parameters and repertoire of Kandyan dance. However, the dancers were not just the victims of colonial choreography but also contributors to colonial choreography through their creativity and resistance. Therefore, I also argue that while collaborating with the colonizers, the dancers responded creatively to their experience and covertly resisted the colonial masters

Invocation.

The research of this thesis is concerned with the investigation of various approaches to religious theory; specifically, the observable analysis of performed ritualistic procedures and their theoretical anticipated effects. Through the examination of the illusory characteristics of the interaction of color and light I am able to draw analogous correlations between art making and ritualistic action. By enacting optical illusion as metaphor for ritual presence, I compare rational and empirical methods of observation. This analysis examines the discrepancy of physical fact and physic effect in that illusion employs physically observable means to render an intangible (non-material) physic effect. Such observances challenge notions of factual knowledge as it pertains to a physical reality. The intangible existence brought about by illusion is recognized and perceived though it is not physically present. It is regarded as fact. It is for this reason that I conclude in this thesis that so-called verifiable fact, as it pertains to individual experience and the acquisition of knowledge, consist of more than empirical observation. Instead, it is coupled with creativity, fantasy, and imagination - all of which are cognitive processes influenced by thought, experience, and sensory perception

Pilgrimage in Historical and Intercultural Perspective

The aim of the volume is a comparative study of non-European pilgrimages under different historical conditions and changing power relations. Historic transformations but also continuities in organization, bodily and spiritual experience, as well as individual and collective motives are discussed. Written by an interdisciplinary group of authors, their various disciplinary perspectives offer insight into the differences in methods, theoretical reflections and the use and meanings of objects in ritual performances. The construction of sacred spaces as landscapes of imagination reflects a wide range of meaning in regard of the growing complexity and social dynamism in times of postmodernity

(Self-)Documentation of Thai Communities: Does the Western 'Community Archive' Movement Provide a Model?

Community archives, a phenomenon that developed out of the 1960s – 1970s civil rights and social justice movements, came to the attention of Western archival academia in the 1990s. Discussion of the phenomenon focused on relationships between the mainstream archives and the community practitioners and a range of subjects in archival studies. Despite the growth of the community archives movement in the context of post-colonial countries in the West, literature suggests that this particular concept has not been hitherto recognised by communities in Thailand. Therefore, this thesis seeks to examine this concept via the Western literature as the basis for further investigation of the community-based heritage activities of the four case studies in the North-eastern (Isan) communities in order to examine the commonalities and differences between the findings from the Western literature and the field research, to identify whether the theoretical and practical models of Western community archives are helpful and applicable to the Thai community heritage activities. The research used qualitative methodologies with a case study approach, including semi-structured interviews, observation, and photographic recording to gain data from the field research. Eighteen interviewees were recruited based on their relevant roles in the communities, including religious and spiritual leaders, members of communities that led or participated in heritage activities, an individual collector, and organisation founders, as well as visitors to the repositories and the audience at community public events. Discussion of research findings is divided into the three main themes that emerged from the field data: motivation, provenance and sustainability. The main conclusions drawn from this research are that, first, the Thai communities focus on saving their heritage from devaluation and neglect rather than trying to fill a perceived gap in mainstream collections, a motivation often found in the relationship between mainstream and community archives suggested by the Western literature. Second, members of communities relied heavily on their leaders and the study revealed the risk to the community archives of over-dependency on individuals; and, despite the evidence that community members had positive views on volunteering, the cooperation from volunteers was primarily driven by the dedication and commitment of the leaders. Third, tangible and intangible heritage in Thai community archives are intertwined and both form important elements in community memory and identity, which the community sees as valuable to preserve and pass on to future generations. Fourth, community archives that are accepted by the Thai community as being a good representation of their heritage tend to be established in community spaces, with the exception of a formal organisation where the space is separated from the communities being represented which, as a consequence, became rather disadvantageous for the organisation. Fifth, ethnic provenance plays a significant part in heritage documentation in Thai communities, especially in the Isan region, where there is a diversity of ethnicity and the majority share similar cultures across the borders with neighbouring countries. Lastly, community archiving practices in Thailand are shown to be affected by their cultural context. This research argues that there are sufficient commonalities between the Western literature and the research findings for each to inform the other. At the same time, the findings from the four case studies have offered some alternative perspectives which can further develop mainstream (and Western) professionals’ understanding of the range, variety and meaning of archival practices in a community context. It is possible to understand the Thai case studies as ‘community archives’ but care should be taken not to assume that they share all the same features as Western examples of the genre. Moreover, particular resonances in literature dealing with less ‘Westernised’ examples have been suggested by Western scholarship; nevertheless, it should be re-emphasised that care should be taken not to create an artificial binary of ‘Western’ and ‘non-Western’ community archives. Keywords: community archives, community-based archives, independent archives, Thai heritage activities, Thai community learning centr

From commissions to commemoration: the re-creation of King Chulalongkorn and his court, and the Thai monarchy through westernised art and Western art collection

Official Thai history gives the iconic role of King Chulalongkorn as the civiliser of which is the theme underpinning my study. This thesis aims to complicate this narrative by investigating the historical specificity of Chulalongkorn’s visual representation operating with the mechanisms of westernisation. The study discusses how the King presented and represented his royal person and his regal power and how the King consequently changed and shaped Siam’s visual and material culture at the turn of the century. Chulalongkorn’s royal family portraits and grand architectural programme, as well as his European art collection recreated a new concept of Siamese kingship and the monarchy: this wide-ranging analysis traces the shift from a semidivine to a secular and modernised monarchy. This thesis argues that the westernisation programme was a process and product of transcultural exchange within the colonial encounters between Siam, the West and their colonies. Chulalongkorn’s appropriation, adaptation and reinterpretation of Western art doubly transformed the monarchy and its kingdom into a modernising nation under the pressure of Western colonialism. This compelled Siam to become a crypto-colonial state of nation. Chulalongkorn’s aspiration for westernised visual representation turned political loyalty into religious devotion in later years. Collective memory of Chulalongkorn was strongly embedded in the public’s perception through the practice of remembrance, nostalgia and commemoration fed by the royalist narrative in official Thai history. This thesis also contributes to an ongoing dialogue on the relations between the monarchy, memory and national identity through an investigation of celebratory exhibitions of the Chakri Dynasty. The issues of visual representation and its impact addressed in this thesis are arguably as bound up with issues of national identity and national politics