การวิเคราะห์วัฒนธรรมประดิษฐ์และการสื่อสารอัตลักษณ์กรณีศึกษา อุตสาหกรรมสปาล้านนา

Abstract

This purposes of this research aim to study the process of cultural invention and identity commu-nication in the case study of Lanna Spa industry of Chiang Mai Province under major concepts follows; the Invented Tradition of Eric Hobsbawm, the Representative-Image Concept and the Study of Cultural Circle of Stuart Hall and Semiology in understanding the phenomena and cul-tural invention under the context of Lanna Spa industry. As the result, it is found that the identity of Thai Lanna Spa is the cultural invention from the representation creation of "Being Lanna", and it is presented via the context of spa industry for health as the cultural production under the commoditization of culture. One of important issues of such representation creation is to pull something out off the old context into new context with new meaning, especially when cultural mechanism under the state power and capital power can move contexts and create representations variously. The culture power from the production is partly the tool of symbolic political ideology which performs its duty to penetrate into the people in the society to manage their values and conscious in order to inherit and sustain the power sta-tus. As we can obviously see from many attempts to control the centralized power of central government and to resist the Colonialism in the past. However, in the modern world, the culture has become the valuable production in the economy; asper the economy in the modern world tends to be based on cultural basis. Therefore, the identity does not remains in the form of es-sences, but it always changes under involved contexts and situations. What we have seen as integrity and the continuity of identities, in fact, it is just the component selection and connection of discourse in specific situation. Once the context changes, the definition of identity can change as well. "Cultural Identity" ineconomic context, it often involves with the restoration of cultural con-sciousor Nostagia. The construction of" Being Lanna" under the context of spa industry is like both scienceand art of mixing the modern knowledge in health care and applying the cultur-alknowledge and local wisdoms to strengthen the values for the products andservices of spa in-dustry for health in Northern Region of Thailand. Lanna Spa is like the product and service of signs which can reflect the distinct identity of holism. Also, it can respond to specific needs of Niche Market among customers in modern world as well according to the trends of health care focusing on holistic health care and restoration for body, mind, and spirit, and the needs of searching for exotic experience from connecting withy local culture and traditions. The study of cultural productions not only the understanding of the cultural restoration and local wisdoms, but under the cultural production and reproduction process, we will realize to the con-nection of Selective Culture, Production, Regulation, Representation, Consumption, and Identity where spa perform its duty as cultural media in reflecting the representation of the Identity of Thai Lanna Spa.