New Mandala readers in Oxford will be keen to know that Andrew is presenting a paper at a seminar tomorrow. It will be held from 5.00 to 6.30 pm on Wednesday, 11 October, in the Deakin Room, Founder’s Building, St Antony’s College, Oxford.
The details follow:
The festival, the abbot and the son of the Buddha: modern Thai community in Chiang Mai province
This paper provides an analysis of a “great festival” (poi luang) held in the village of Baan Tiam in northern Thailand. The festival was held to celebrate the successful renovation of parts of the village temple. Taking Durkheim’s analysis of ceremony as a starting point the paper examines the ways in which the festival succeeds and fails in the symbolic construction of community. The paper focusses on three key symbols deployed during the festival: the local concept of the “collective” (suan huam), the Abbot of the temple, and the mysterious spirit, Upakhut, believed by many villagers to be the son of the Buddha.
2 responses so far ↓
1 wasan panyagew // Oct 11, 2006 at 6:05 pm
To A.Andrew
Can u explain a litle more on what u called ‘the festival succeeds and fails in the symbolic construction of community’?, it seems to me this is the focal point of this paper.
In short, can I get your paper to read further more.
p.s. in my views, one will not be able to fully and truly undestand the social meanings of the Poi without considering its mobility aspects. the networks of community, or a community network that operates through and upon the Poi. This is fundamental for ‘Tai community life’
Regards
Wasan, Chiang Mai
2 Andrew Walker // Oct 11, 2006 at 6:46 pm
Hi Wasan, the paper is still a work in progress. Here is one quote from one of the key organisers of the festival (poi):
“The festival is a blessing…Our relatives from far away will come and join us to make merit. Anything not good has to be fixed. Places to stay and things to eat have to be prepared. This is how we welcome them. Relatives will be coming from other sub-districts, from other districts, from other villages. Everyone’s relatives have to come and join us because it is a really big occasion for making merit. It is a very famous festival.”
So, yes, networks are created and reinforced by the festival but I am not sure that these can be simply described as “networks of community.”
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