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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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Thaification, or Thai-ization, is the process by which people of different cultural and ethnic origins living in Thailand become assimilated to the country's dominant culture: that of Central Thailand, and later of Bangkok.
Thaification was a step in the creation in the early 20th century of the Thai nation state in which Central Thais occupy a dominant position, as opposed to the historically-multicultural kingdom of Siam. A related term, "Thainess", describes the particular characteristics that distinguish the Thai from others.
Thaification is a byproduct of the nationalist policies mandated by the Thai state after the June 1933 Siamese coup d'état. The coup leaders, said to be inspired by Western ideas of an exclusive nation state, acted more in accordance with their close German nationalist and anti-democratic counterparts to effect kingdom-wide dominance by the Central Thai culture. Minority-owned businesses, like the traditionally-merchant Thai Chinese were aggressively acquired by the state, which gave preferential contracts to ethnic Central Thais and cooperative ethnic Chinese.[1]
Thai identity was mandated via 12 Thai cultural mandates and reinforced in the heartlands and in rural areas. Central Thailand became economically and politically dominant, and Central Thai, unlike the multilingual Siam, became the state-mandated language of the media, business, education and all state agencies. Central Thai values were successfully inculcated into being perceived as the desirable national values, with increasing proportions of the population identifying as Thai. Central Thai culture, being the culture of wealth and status, made it hugely attractive to a once-diverse population that sought to be identified with nationalist unity.
The main targets of Thaification were ethnic Chinese and other ethnic groups on the edges of the kingdom, geographically and culturally: the Lao of Isan (อีสาน),[2] the hill tribes of western and northern Thailand, and also Thais who speak the Southern Thai language. There has also been a Thaification of the immigrant Indian and Vietnamese populations. Thaification also targeted the ethnic Malay but was somewhat less successful.[3][4]
Thaification by the government can be separated into three sets of policies:
In the first set of policies, the government targeted specific policies and actions at fringe groups. An example of this is the Accelerated Rural Development Programme of 1964, the Isan component of which included the strengthening of allegiance to Bangkok and the rest of the country as one of its objectives.
The second set of policies consists of policies applied nationally, but that disproportionately affect fringe groups. One example of this is the prescribed use of Central Thai language in schools. This had little or no effect on the central Thais, or the Siamese people, who already used the language as a native but made bilinguals of speakers of Isan in the northeast, of Northern Thai (คำเมือง) in the north and of Pattani Malay (ยาวี) in the south.
Harsher methods were imposed on the Thai Chinese.[5] After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, a series of anticommunist Thai military juntas, starting with that of right-wing dictator Plaek Phibunsongkhram, sharply reduced Chinese immigration and prohibited Chinese schools in Thailand.[5] Thai Chinese born after the 1950s had "very limited opportunities to enter Chinese schools".[5] Those Thai Chinese who could afford to study overseas studied English, instead of Mandarin Chinese for economic reasons.[5] As a result, the Chinese in Thailand have "almost totally lost the language of their ancestors" and are gradually losing their Chinese identity.[5]
A third set of policies was designed to encourage Thai nationalism in the nation's peoples such as the promotion of the king as a national figurehead and saluting the flag in school and the twice-daily broadcasts of the national anthem (Thai: เพลงชาติ; RTGS: phleng chat) on radio and television at 08:00 and 18:00 as well as in public spaces. Encouraging Thai nationalism had the intended side effect of discouraging other loyalties, such as that to Laos, stemming from the central Thais' fear of Lao cultural and political dominance in the Isan region[6] and that of Malay (Thai: มลายู; RTGS: malayu) in the south.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Thaification, or Thai-ization, is the process by which people of different cultural and ethnic origins living in Thailand become assimilated to the country's dominant culture: that of Central Thailand, and later of Bangkok. Thaification was a step in the creation in the early 20th century of the Thai nation state in which Central Thais occupy a dominant position, as opposed to the historically-multicultural kingdom of Siam. A related term, "Thainess", describes the particular characteristics that distinguish the Thai from others.
The Isan people (Thai: คนอีสาน, RTGS: Khon Isan, Thai pronunciation: [kʰōn ʔīːsǎːn]; Northeastern Thai: คนอีสาน, pronounced [kʰo᷇n ʔīː.sǎːn]; Lao: ຄົນອີສານ, pronounced [kʰón ʔìː.sǎːn]; Burmese: အီသန် လူမျိုး) or literally Northeastern people are an ethnic group native to Northeastern Thailand with an estimated population of about 22 million. Alternative terms for this group are T(h)ai Isan, Thai-Lao, Lao Isan, or Isan Lao. Like Central Thai (Siamese) and Lao, they belong to the linguistic family of Tai peoples. Other transliteration spellings include Isaan and Isarn from the Thai อีสาน (Northeast). In a broader sense, everyone who comes from the 20 northeastern provinces of Thailand may be called khon isan. In the narrower sense, the term refers only to the ethnic Lao who make up the majority population in most parts of the region. After the failed Lao Rebellion in 1826, the region witnessed mass forced population transfers of ethnic Lao into Isan. Following the separation of Isan from the historical Lao Kingdom, its integration into the Thai nation state and the central government's policy of "Thaification", they have developed a distinct regional identity that differs both from the Laotians of Laos and the Thais of Central Thailand. Integration of this identity into Thai national identity began around 1900, accelerated during the fascist era, was aggressively pursued during the Cold War, and is maintained today, although in 2011, Thailand officially recognized the Lao identity to the United Nations. Even during the height of the Cold War, the level of this integration was very high, as measured by expression of nationalist sentiments. Even today, the Isan people are some of the most nationalist in Thailand; many of them are more nationalist than the Central Thai. As such, during the height of Thailand's 'color wars' in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the mainly Isan-based Red Shirts were not calling for separatism but a return to democracy, in support of the Pheu Thai party. Almost all inhabitants of Thailand's Northeast are Thai nationals. Yet a majority of them (approximately 80%) are ethnically Lao and speak a variant of the Lao language when at home (the three main Lao dialects spoken in Northeastern Thailand are summarized as the Isan language). To avoid being subjected to derogatory stereotypes and perceptions associated with Lao-speaking people, most prefer to call themselves khon isan.
Thainess, or the Thai identity (Thai: ความเป็นไทย, RTGS: khwam pen thai), is a conceptual identity regarding the quality of being Thai: characteristics seen as distinctive to the Thai people, Thai culture, and those belonging to Thailand as a whole. It forms the central identity upon which discourses on Thai nationalism have been constructed, with main contributors including King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) during his reign (1910-1925) and Luang Wichitwathakan during the early post-absolute monarchy period (after 1932). Though poorly defined, it is often expressed as devotion to the three pillars of "nation, religion, king", a concept first popularized by Vajiravudh. It was used as a tool by both the absolute monarchy and the People's Party governments to build political hegemony over the country through the process of Thaification, as well as in the anti-communist effort during the 1960s and the 1970s. It has also become a form of promotional representation by which images of the country are presented to international visitors, especially from the late 20th century. The concept has continued to evolve in various directions, and has been increasingly questioned by scholars since the 1990s and into the 21st century.
The Tai Noi (Thai: อักษรไทน้อย, RTGS: akson thai noi; Northeastern Thai: อักษรลาวเดิม, RTGS: akson lao doem; Lao: ອັກສອນລາວບູຮານ, RTGS: akson lao buhan) also spelled Thai Noi or Lao Buhan script is a Brahmic script that has historically been used in Laos and Isan since about 1500 CE. The contemporary Lao script is a direct descendant and has preserved the basic letter shapes. The script has mostly dropped out of use in the Isan region of Thailand, due to the Thaification policies of the Thai government, that imposed Central Thai culture such as the Thai script throughout the country.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
