Siege of the Spirits: Community and Polity in Bangkok

282 Pages·2016·1.567 MB·English

by  Michael Herzfeld

Siege of the Spirits

Siege of the Spirits
Community and Polity in Bangkok
MICHAEL HERZFELD
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
MICHAEL HERZFELD is the Ernest E. Monrad Professor of
the Social Sciences in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard
University and has taught at several other universities worldwide. He is
the author of many books, most recently The Body Impolitic and Evicted
from Eternity, both also published by the University of Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 33158- 4 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 33161- 4 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 33175- 1 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226331751.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Herzfeld, Michael, 1947– author.
Siege of the spirits: community and polity in Bangkok / Michael
Herzfeld.
pages; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
“An ethnography of the community of Pom Mahakan in Bangkok
which faces eviction in the name of urban renewal”—Publisher info.
ISBN 978-0-226-33158-4 (cloth: alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-226-33161-4 (pbk.: alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-226-33175-1 (e-book) 1. Pom Mahakan (Bangkok, Thailand).
2. Historic districts—Thailand—Bangkok. 3. Urban beautification—
Thailand—Bangkok. 4. City planning—Thailand—Bangkok. 5. Urban
renewal—Thailand—Bangkok—Citizen participation. 6. City dwellers—
Civil rights—Thailand—Bangkok. 7. Eviction—Thailand—Bangkok.
I. Title.
HT178.T52B36 2016
307.3'41609593—dc223 2015023683
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
for Prudhisan Jumbala
in enduring friendship

Contents
Preface ix
1 Claiming Culture 1
2 Community, City, and Polity 44
3 The State and the City 66
4 Law, Courtesy, and the Tactics of Temporality 90
5 Currents and Countercurrents 125
6 Time, Sound, and Rhythm 148
7 The Polity in Miniature 168
8 Building the Future of the Past 187
Notes 205 References 239 Index 255

Preface
This book is the result of many journeys— long hours in the
air from Boston to Bangkok, a reaching back to friendships
from my adolescent past, a discovery of the excitement of
moving outside the safe spaces of long-f amiliar cultural
contexts in Italy and Greece to a new world in Thailand, a
translation of comparison from theory to lived experience, a
deepening exploration of the lives of people whose struggle
for dignity captured my imagination and engaged my deep
affection.
At middle age, the greatest challenge was perhaps the
learning of the notoriously difficult Thai language and the
sense of jumping into the unknown without a parachute.
But I was fortunate in my guides. At Harvard Mary Steedly
assuaged my fears of entering an arena where others were so
much more experienced by urging me to focus on topics I
had already studied in southern Europe; my former student
Saipin Suputtamongkol, now a colleague at Thammasat
University, completed that injunction by suggesting the
general framework of the Rattanakosin Island conservation
project— an inspired idea, as it turned out after numerous
false starts. My first Thai language teacher, Priyawat Kuan-
pol, cannot be held accountable for my errors— she tried,
she surely tried!— but can take a great deal of credit for push-
ing me toward at least a measure of competence. And my
assistants in the field, Nowwanij (“Nij”) Siriphatiriwut and
Viphaphan (“Kai”) Siripakchai, kept an eye on things dur-
ing my absences and industriously but often hilariously kept
my spirits up and my frustration down. Irving Chan Johnson
ix