การเมืองเชิงวัฒนธรรมของการสร้างประวัติศาสตร์ในประเพณีการแข่งขันเรือยาวจังหวัดน่าน

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to investigate Nanness through the Nan’s Longboat Racing Festival. The study analyzed the power relationship of actors, who contributed to the construction of meaning of the festival. The analysis of the situation in which there were competitions for meanings and the negotiation method for establishing the meaning of the Nan’s Longboat Racing Festival in the context of globalization was conducted. This research study also examined the construction of the identity of the local Nan, and the local interactions with external powers that attempted to manage and control the longboat racing festival. This study was qualitative, applying cultural politics approach, through the study of community groups, government and community groups related to the Nan’s longboat racing festival. The field study took place from 2017 to 2020. This study results showed that, firstly, the construction of historical meaning for the current Nan’s Longboat Racing Festival contained two dimensions. The first dimension was health (Alcohol-Free Longboat Racing Festival). Although initiated by the health community in Nan Province, the central governmental organizations were invited to participate in the festival, reinforcing the power to construct the meaning for the longboat racing festival that it became more credible and justified. The second dimension was the cultural capital for community tourism. This capital created the meaning and harmonized the benefits of all sectors, from the community level, the local organization level and the central governmental organization. By the cultural capital, a common ground was made, where all the organizations concerned participated in driving the longboat racing festival for tourism. Secondly, the Nan’s Longboat Racing Festival has served as a space where the interest groups, from the longboat community level, the local organizations, and central government agencies can debate or discuss the power relations to improve the relationships. Negotiation forms can be represented in three ways: creating new regulations to manage the competition, which were approved by and were considered a resolution of the longboat community; increasing the types of competition to meet all target groups; and creating a new arena dedicated for sports only. Thirdly, the tension arising from the competition and bargaining for power to construct the meaning of the actors in the Nan’s longboat Racing Festival reflected the efforts to create a new identity of the Nan Province, to remove the original image of Nan that was inconsistent with the context of its development. The efforts were especially made to develop the tourism, and the longboat racing festival was, therefore, a cultural performance that demonstrated the transformative capacity of Nan’s locality.