การเปลี่ยนแปลงการรับรู้และการผลิตสร้างความรู้ของชนชั้นนำสยามต่ออินเดีย พ.ศ. 2410 – 2455

Abstract

This thesis aims to examines the change of Siamese elite’s perception and their knowledge construction towards India during 1867 – 1912. This thesis shows that the perception of Siamese elites toward India during 1867 – 1912 was change and different from earlier period. This change began gradually from the early Rattanakosin period and continued throughout 1867-1912. It was found that Siamese elites received and construct knowledge about India in each their own way. This thesis begins with exploring the Siamese elites perception toward India in the early Rattanakosin period. The Siamese elites perceived India with religious perspective and also through trade contacts. This led to a clearer view of India as a commercial trading cities while the consciousness of India as a land of the Brahmanical religion became more evident and replace Buddhist ecumene. Furthermore, together with the knowledge about India that was produced and exported by the British Empire, Siamese elites increasingly recognized India as a modern state. This knowledge about India was used by the Siamese elites during the reign of King Rama IV to respond to the challenges posed by Western modernity and to support political stability. The increased production and exportation of knowledge about India, as well as the perception and knowledge of India held by Siamese elites in the previous era, were key factors that led to a change in the perception of India among Siamese elites during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who came to view India as a civilized British colonial state. Furthermore, India became a source of knowledge used by Siamese elites to describe India in their writings, which reflect the knowledge construction about India by merge external knowledge with their own subjectivity. This resulted in a characteristic of knowledge that reveal the perception of the Siamese elites towards India during 1867-1912.