Politics of commoditizing ethnic culture in Chiang Rai Flower Festival

Abstract

This thesis aims to conceptualize the topic of “commoditization and ethnicity” through the phenomena of commoditizing ethnic culture within the Cultural Square, a space for displaying ethnic diversity in the Chiang Rai Flower Festival. Regarding Erik Cohen’s suggestions, the thesis argues that an ethnic commodity can be conceived as a negotiable thing at the frontier of ethnic boundaries among the relevant actors. Consequently, the phenomena within the Cultural Square lead to a so-called politics of commoditizing ethnic culture, which thus provides an alternative lens for studies on ethnicity. Furthermore, considering this politics of commoditization also illuminates critical debates on multiculturalism in Thai society. Chiang Rai is one of the most multi-ethnic cities in Thailand for geographical and historical reasons. Since the 2000s, under the slogan “city of art and diversity”, Chiang Rai has been situated as a prominent touristic destination responding to the state’s campaign of “quality tourists”. The Chiang Rai Flower Festival and its Cultural Square, initiated in 2005, are consequences of this tourism campaign. The Cultural Square supposedly presents Chiang Rai’s ethno-cultural diversity: it presents vivid cultural diversity as colorful flowers. Understanding this presentation requires contextualizing the historical dynamics of Chiang Rai’s ethno-cultural diversity as it has developed from the hills to the city, i.e., from isolated ethnic communities to ethnic commoditization. Although some previous studies have enhanced discussions of ethnic commoditization beyond economic dimensions, i.e., seeing a commodity as a negotiable thing among relevant actors, this thesis endeavors to fill such studies’ gaps. The previous studies pay less attention to ethnic perspectives, especially to the power relations among ethnic groups, who indeed are heterogeneous in the process of ethnic commoditization. Chiefly employing Cohen’s suggestion of viewing an ethnic commodity as a negotiable thing at the frontier of ethnic boundaries among the relevant actors, the thesis seeks to comprehend the influences of tourism in relation to the political dynamics of ethnic boundaries, which relates to social changes among Chiang Rai’s ethnic groups. Rather than emphasizing the subfield of ethnic tourism, this thesis works with the theme of “commoditization and ethnicity” as its focal point. This conceptualization underpins the research arenas: Chiang Rai’s ethno-cultural diversity; the phenomena of commoditizing ethnic culture within the Cultural Square; and power relations among the relevant actors of the Cultural Square (i.e., the ethnic groups and the local governments). The data and information are mainly acquired through an ethnographically oriented approach. Finally, this thesis offers three findings: 1) it analyzes the dynamics of commoditizing ethnic culture in Chiang Rai, which have developed into what this study terms a “post-Boonchouy era”; 2) it regards the Cultural Square as a space for expressing various concerns among the relevant actors, due to its significance in negotiating the ethnic commodity; and 3) it reveals the politics of commoditizing ethnic culture within the Cultural Square – i.e., the origins and development of ethnic commoditization in relation to sociopolitical contexts and power relations among inter-ethnic groups – that have changed Chiang Rai’s ethnic relations at large. In addition, the thesis’s analysis leads to two critical theoretical contributions. First, multiculturalism; the various concerns negotiated among the relevant actors within the space of commoditization (e.g., the Cultural Square) can be discussed in terms of multicultural issues, i.e., the case of Thai society is one that is shifting from state multiculturalism to multiculturalism from below. Second, commoditization, ethnic authenticity, and ethnic boundary; the power relations between ethnic people and the dynamics of ethnic diversity and ethnic commoditization through the tourist sphere (e.g., the Cultural Square), which lead to the politics of authenticity and the process of ethnicization – can provide new perspectives for studies on ethnicity.