Jacob I. Ricks
Singapore Management University, Singapore
Keywords: ethnic identity, ethnic mobilization, nation-building, nationalism, Thailand
DOI: 10.5509/2019922257
In contrast to the veneer of a homogenous state-approved Thai ethnicity, Thailand is home to a heterogeneous population. Only about one-third of Thailand’s inhabitants speak the national language as their mother tongue; multiple alternate ethnolinguistic groups comprise the remainder of the population, with the Lao in the northeast, often called Isan people, being the largest at 28 percent of the population. Ethnic divisions closely align with areas of political party strength; the Thai Rak Thai Party and its subsequent incarnations enjoy strong support from Isan people and Khammuang speakers in the north while the Democrat Party dominates among the Thai- and Paktay-speaking people of the central plains and the south. Despite this confluence of ethnicity and political party support, we see very little mobilization along ethnic cleavages. Why? I argue that ethnic mobilization remains minimal because of the large-scale public acceptance and embrace of the government-approved Thai identity. Even among the country’s most disadvantaged, as are Isan people, support is still strong for “Thai-ness.” Most inhabitants of Thailand espouse the mantra that to be Thai is superior to being labelled as an alternate ethnic group. I demonstrate this through the application of large-scale survey data as well as a set of interviews with self-identified Isan people. The findings suggest that the Thai state has successfully inculcated a sense of national identity among the Isan people and that ethnic mobilization is hindered by ardent nationalism.
身为泰国人而骄傲:泰国东北部为何不存在以族群为基础的政治分歧
关键词: 族群身份;族群动员;国族构建;民族主义;泰国。
与 表面上呈现出的同质化的官方认可的泰族裔身份相对比,泰国人口其实极为异质化。大约只有三分之一左右的泰国居民以官方语言为母语,其余的人口由多个不同的语族构成,其中人口最多的是居住于东北部的老挝人,通常被称为伊森(Isan)人,占总人口28%。 族群分野与政党力量区域分布相当一致: 泰爱泰党以及其后演化的政党得到北部的伊森族人以及讲坎孟语(Khammuang)人口的强烈支持,而民主党则主导着中部平原以及南部地区讲泰语及帕台(Paktay)方言的居民。尽管族群和对政党的支持之间相互重合, 我们却很少看到以族群分歧为基础的政治动员。这是为什么? 我认为,族群的政治动员能保持在最小化,是因为对政府推行的泰国身份存在着大规模的公众接受和认可。即便在国内最弱势的族群如伊森族人民中,对“泰国人”这一身份的支持度也是非常高的。大多数泰国居民支持这样的箴言,即,做个泰国人强过被人贴上其它族群的标签。我通过大规模的调查数据以及一系列对自我识别为伊森族人的对象的访谈对此进行了展示。研究发现表明,泰国已经成功地在伊森族人中培养了国家认同意识,而族群动员也被热切的民族主义所阻滞。
Translated from English by Li Guo