The Interpretative Influence of International Human Rights Norms on Judicial Reasoning in Thailand: Lessons from the United Kingdom and the United States of America

This research studies and compares the interpretive influence of international human rights norms in Thailand, the UK and the USA. It has found that successive Thai Constitutions have greatly been influenced by international human rights norms, but Thai courts have not made use of such norms in interpretation. This is in contrast to the practices in the UK and the USA where courts have developed advanced theories of interpretation in order to permit influence of international human rights norms in domestic spheres. In order to better understand the underlying reasons for the use of international human rights norms or the absence of such, the research compares not only the interpretive influence of international human rights norms, but also political and constitutional backgrounds, roles of the judiciary – including judicial review and interpretive approaches – and the perceived relationships between international and domestic laws in the three countries. Based on the results of the comparison, it argues that the interpretive influence of international human rights norms is desirable in Thailand and that the Thai legal system is actually more open to such norms than those of the UK and the USA. The research culminates in using experiences of courts in the UK and the USA to formulate a framework for Thai courts to consistently and legitimately use international human rights norms in their judicial reasoning

The Syntax of Colophons

The present volume focuses on the colophons found in several pothi manuscripts from Central, South and South East Asia. Its contributions discuss the colophons’ defining features, thus exposing their ‘syntax’, focusing particularly on the tracing of recurring patterns. The information extrapolated from colophons is further analysed to obtain a better understanding of these distinct manuscript cultures

The Syntax of Colophons

The present volume focuses on the colophons found in several pothi manuscripts from Central, South and South East Asia. Its contributions discuss the colophons’ defining features, thus exposing their ‘syntax’, focusing particularly on the tracing of recurring patterns. The information extrapolated from colophons is further analysed to obtain a better understanding of these distinct manuscript cultures

Nature, Nurture and Nation in Folk Oralities in Thailand and Beyond

This thesis examines the interrelationships between humans and Nature1 as represented in the Thai folk oralities - from folk lullabies to rural belief systems. This includes a consideration of the portrayals of the archaic female guardian spirit (Mae Sue), the folk narratives in the Rathasena Jataka, and the legend of Jao Mae Nang Non (the Great Reclining Lady) of Chiang Rai province. These conceptual materials have represented the relationships between humans and the natural environment in alignment with human emotions and beliefs in more-than-human entities. The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on theoretical insights derived from socio-ecology, political ecology, feminist political ecology, intertextuality, colonial discourses, and religious hybridity. It interrogates cultural deep history in relation to the natural environment and spiritual beliefs and practices connected with Nature, as portrayed in the dayto- day lives of rural people and their oralities. It further examines the ways in which these cultural-natural histories and local peoples’ practices come under the control of Siamese/Thai patriotic epistemologies in the making of the modern nation-state. The study begins by scrutinising the practice of Siamese/Thai hegemony since the late era of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (the eighteenth century) to the early Rattanakosin period (where dominance of grand narrative becomes rigorous during the reign of King Rama V, 1868-1910). The research questions revolve around issues of how environmental politics has created a rift with rural-based traditions; how the nation-state usurps eco-space, both literally and figuratively (in the case of oral literatures); and how nationalistic narratives have exploited rural voices through reinterpretations of folk oralities. The main research methodology focuses on political ecology, intertextual analysis, and colonial discourses, in combination with in-depth interviews of 64 individuals with Thais, with ethnic minorities, with the southern forestdwelling nomadic tribe (maniq), and with Lao people, all of which were undertaken during fieldwork from October 2019 – March 2020. To demonstrate national disruptions to the rural people’s lifestyles and their oralities, the opening chapter foregrounds the socio-ecological dimensions portrayed in regional folk lullabies where surrounding Nature – including both the positive and negative characteristics of Nature - thrives alongside human communities. Within the nature-oriented traditions represented in regional rhymes, the environmental politics of the Thai state reveal the intricate processes of Cultural-Natural intervention. The study further explores the link between matriarchy and nature-based embodiment as represented through female guardian spirits such as Mae Sue in lullabies and the perceptions of the Mother Nature. Here, the re-articulations of female spirits by Siamese/Thai scholars manifest the extent to which the central elites have imposed a coupling of femininity and the natural sphere, in the same way they have imposed a distinction between Cultural and Natural. The attempt to define the uniformity of national identity has resulted in the marginalisation of rural peoples’ cultural heterogeneity and has served to push eco-space into the background of the narratives, as is shown in central lullabies. Furthermore, the breach between humans and Nature has grown more intensely fraught, as seen in a case of Phra Rot Meri story in the Rathasena Jataka. By endorsing an intertextual analytical approach towards the Rathasena Jataka, this thesis uncovers the conflicts that exist between the central and the peripheral people in each transformation of the narratives. Within the aesthetic in each version of the Rathasena story, Nature is closely associated with the insurgency and violence that the state has inflicted on humans and nonhuman others. In light of these core vs periphery controversies, however, the case study of the tale of the sacred mountain of Jao Mae Nang Non reveals how the natural environment becomes a “contested terrain” of negotiation where rural people and Tai Yai ethnic people from the Shan states in Myanmar, who have migrated to the northernmost regions of Chiang Rai province, have redefined their cultural identity in relation to spiritual beliefs and practices towards the mountain. In place of considering folk oralities from a merely aesthetic perspective, as has been the norm in previous Thai literary studies, this thesis proposes a re-examination of their relationships to national and local identities, arguing for the significance of their contested terrain through environmental politics and ecological literary lenses. Folk lullabies and folk narratives do not solely express a harmonious cultural relationship with Nature in which trees, rocks, rivers, and caves, are represented inanimately. Rather, the natural space in Thai folk literature displays a rich diversity in terms of its spiritualistic dimensions, its features of insurgency, and of violence between the nation-state and the local people, the latter always seen as being unorthodox and on a par with untamed Nature. A core feature in the modernised nation-making process is one of taking control over the cultural beliefs and practices of local people and their relations to the wilderness. Instead of regarding culture as static, this study opens up new perspectives on understanding culture in the spheres of fluidity and hybridity. The realisation of how eco-space has been distorted and destroyed by the intervention of the state also has implications for future environmental consciousness as a result of which the natural environment might be made more secure

The king's nation: A study of the emergence and development of nation and nationalism in Thailand.

This thesis presents an overview over the history of the concepts of nation and nationalism in Thailand. Based on the ethno-symbolist approach to the study of nationalism, this thesis proposes to see the Thai nation as a result of a long process, reflecting the three-phases-model (ethnie, pre-modern and modern nation) for the potential development of a nation as outlined by Anthony Smith. The four main points put forward by this thesis are as follows: First, the Thai nation is the result of a long process with roots within several cultural cores. When the modern nation came into being in the early Bangkok period, it was characterised by an indigenous interpretation different from the western understanding of a nation. Second, Thai nationalism as an ideology originated in the mid-nineteenth century. It was a consequence of an intra-elite struggle between the nobility and the monarchy. The kings actively used nationalism to strengthen their position and to bind the loyalty of the people to their institution. As a result, Thai nationalism at the very beginning was 'monarchical' with the monarch himself embedding the nation and lacking a popular component. Third, Thai nationalism in the twentieth century was characterised by alternate interpretations of the nations by different ruling elite groups. This resulted in three competing nationalisms, namely monarchical, statist, and royal nationalism. Fourth, the period since 1980 saw a revival of monarchical nationalism. The current ruler, King Bhumibol, adapted monarchical nationalism to a modern and democratic political system. He interprets the modern nation as a self-sufficient, trans-ethnic and moral community and disseminates the ideals with the help of the state via monuments, art, stamps, ceremonies, legends and festivals

New economy and gender relations in Thailand: The implications of the Internet.

Toward the end of the 1990s, a large number of people were drawn into work in the new economy. The use of information and communications technology (ICT) was said to promise a gender-neutral world of work. The Internet, transcending temporal and spatial divisions, is supposed to create new employment options. This thesis examines the ways in which both genders in Thailand use the Internet to make or further their career. It asks to what extent work on the Internet really opens up new career opportunities. It also explores the extent to which the Internet enables women and men to escape their gendered identity, allowing them different identities, in cyberspace and, at home, enabling the redefinition of gender arrangements in the domestic domain. In-depth interviews with 55 participants in Thailand reveal that work with ICTs has generated a new form of employment that is informal, flexible and more uncertain. In addition, Thai women can use the Internet to start their own online business, and this can enhance their economic independence and allow them to negotiate gendered relations from a stronger bargaining position. However, the findings also illustrate that women face a contradiction between economic independence and their roles as mothers and wives. Conforming to a hetero-normative ideology creates ambivalence about changing gender roles, and particular pressures for women combining paid and unpaid work. ICT has provided a new economic opportunity, accessible to both women and men, yet most women continue to prioritise care-giving responsibilities. This dilemma leads to greater conflicts, particularly for women, between careers and family