The German Community in Siam between 1850 and 1917. A History of Transculturation and Integration

Abstract

This research paper deals with the history of the German community in Bangkok from its emergence in the mid-19th century until 1917. It is divided into two parts: the first presents the development process of the German community; the second analyses the facts presented in the first part. The researcher draws on a variety of different sources, including Thai and German political files and documents, tombstones in the two cemeteries for Western foreigners in Bangkok, and interviews with descendants of the community living in Thailand. The first part of the paper (Chapters I-IV) shows how the German community in Siam formed and developed between 1850 and 1917 against the backdrop of global-local interplay of macro- and micro-historical factors. The German community developed in two phases. The first phase began with Siam's policy of opening up in 850 in response to the first wave of colonial expansion by European powers in continental Southeast Asia. The second phase of community development followed Siam’s modernisation on the Western model to counter the second colonial expansion from the 1880s onwards. The German-speaking cultural community in the first phase transformed into the national German community in the second phase. This research paper shows not only how the social structure of the community developed, but also how the process deepened in terms of occupation, and family circumstances in the residential society. The second part of the research paper (Chapter V) analyses the individual biographies of the German members of the community in the context of cultural transfer, transnational and transcultural developments. The research paper shows how members of European-German and Siamese communities interacted with each other, intermingled and finally formed new hybrid societies. The research paper points out that such a process of cultural transfer and transculturation took place beyond national borders, arguing that the history of the German community in Bangkok is also part of transnational history. Chapter VI provides a summary of the findings