Ginsburgh- Media Worlds

The National Picture: Thai Identity- Annette Hamilton

Hamilton considered Thai people’s sense of identity at a national and local level through mass media in the 1980’s. Hamilton considered her work to me media anthropology because she took media into consideration instead of just focusing on villages or ethnic minorities. Mass media blurred the lines of community and instead produced “imagined communities” because of the controlled international, national, and local broadcast material shown.

The article discusses how Thailand’s people interpret national and local identities by examining how the nation is presented to the people. National broadcasting neglects local content and social criticism of the country or the Royal family. The sense of national identity springs from the relationship to others (mainly Westerners), which leads to the suppression of local practices in national media. Thai people are required to identify with the new social movement towards modernity and Western practices (such as Christmas). Thai identity is produced through public political and religious rituals, mass media, and educational and bureaucratic practices. Diverse Thai culture is accepted in careful boundaries for tourism.

Television and videos became a social community builder for tourists and locals alike. People would get together in their communities to watch videos, which built a sense of neighborhood that was also established through traditional events. As cable emerged, people began to request videos of family and private events such as weddings and funerals. This reminds me of our society’s fascination with reality television today. Spiritual events would also be shown, but they would be edited and have voice-overs that would definitely change the viewing experience. Television neglected social and political events arising in the country, but instead political statements would be made through melodramas, which the people had to interpret the hidden meanings. The people were yearning for democracy and a civil society, but this was not being shown on TV, which led to public protests. This reminds me of the social media revolution in Libya earlier this year. Thai television had a disconnect between reality and mass media representation, which changed their sense of identity locally and nationally.