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Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand
Unlike its Southeast Asian neighbors, Thailand was never colonized by an imperial power. However, Siam (as Thailand was called until 1939) shared a great deal in common with both colonized states and imperial powers: its sovereignty was qualified by imperial nations while domestically its leaders pursued European colonial strategies of juridical control in the Muslim south. The creation of family law and courts in that region and in Siam proper most clearly manifests Siam's dualistic position.
Demonstrating the centrality of gender relations, law, and Siam's Malay Muslims to the history of modern Thailand, Subject Siam examines the structures and social history of jurisprudence to gain insight into Siam's unique position within Southeast Asian history. Tamara Loos elaborates on the processes of modernity through an in-depth study of hundreds of court cases involving polygyny, marriage, divorce, rape, and inheritance adjudicated between the 1850s and 1930s. Most important, this study of Siam offers a novel approach to the question of modernity precisely because Siam was not colonized yet was subject to transnational discourses and symbols of modernity. In Siam, Loos finds, the language of modernity was not associated with a foreign, colonial overlord, so it could be deployed both by elites who favored continuation of existing domestic hierarchies and by those advocating political and social change.
Demonstrating the centrality of gender relations, law, and Siam's Malay Muslims to the history of modern Thailand, Subject Siam examines the structures and social history of jurisprudence to gain insight into Siam's unique position within Southeast Asian history. Tamara Loos elaborates on the processes of modernity through an in-depth study of hundreds of court cases involving polygyny, marriage, divorce, rape, and inheritance adjudicated between the 1850s and 1930s. Most important, this study of Siam offers a novel approach to the question of modernity precisely because Siam was not colonized yet was subject to transnational discourses and symbols of modernity. In Siam, Loos finds, the language of modernity was not associated with a foreign, colonial overlord, so it could be deployed both by elites who favored continuation of existing domestic hierarchies and by those advocating political and social change.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 17, 2019
When I first browsed its title SUBJECT SIAM, the word SUBJECT itself has long since reminded me of a Thai word สัปเยก (sappayek) used passim in THE BANGKOK RECORDER, Dr. Dan B. Bradley's famous pioneering Thai newspaper published in 1844-1867 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ban...) because we did not have a Thai term for it then. According to the translated essay entitled 'ศึกษารัฐไทย วิพากษ์ไทยศึกษา' (Studies of the Thai State: The State of Thai Studies), this word has been translated as ไุพร่ฟ้าข้าแผ่นดิน [phraifakhaphaendin] (นนทบุรี: ฟ้าเดียวกัน, 2558, น. 30). However, the Thai translation is not decisive in the meantime since Prof. Charnvit Kasetsiri has rendered the word สัปเยก as ข้าบาท-พสกนิกร? [khabat, phasoknikon] in ชุมชนจินตกรรม: บทสะท้อนว่าด้วยกำเนิดและการแพร่ขยายของชาตินิยม (กรุงเทพฯ: มูลนิธิโครงการตำราสังคมศาสตร์และสังคมศาสตร์, 2560, น. 357). Reprinted for the fourth time, this Thai text has been the translated version of 'Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism' by Prof. Benedict Anderson.
My confession is that I first knew Prof. Tamara Loos from reading her introduction in Prof. Benedict Anderson's 'Exploration and Irony in Studies of Siam over Forty Years' (Cornell University Press 2014) in which her text has revealed her scholarly understanding of the author and Siam. I could not help reading it with awe and respect. Later, I came across this copy at the DASA Book Café, being reluctant to buy it at first; however, I bought it later anyway and again was not sure to read it due to its seemingly wide and abstract coverage which was a bit unfamiliar to me. I had no choice; therefore, I had to design a reading plan by taking 'Modernity' into account, that is, as the keyword of all of the following seven chapters:
One. Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand
Two. Transnational Justice
Three. Colonial Law and Buddhist Modernity in the Malay Muslim South
Four. The Imperialism of Monogamy in Family Law
Five. Crisis of Wifedom
Six. Nationalism and Male Sexuality
Seven. Subjects of History
Out of my looming perplexity while reading 'Subject Siam', I thought I would read each chapter focusing on modernity per se, keeping its meaning as related to more modern ways in mind. In other words, finding the ways as the sequel of ensuing modernity should help readers see more light on those key topics in which Siam presumably stayed uncivilized as compared to those colonizers or neighboring nations.
To continue . . .
My confession is that I first knew Prof. Tamara Loos from reading her introduction in Prof. Benedict Anderson's 'Exploration and Irony in Studies of Siam over Forty Years' (Cornell University Press 2014) in which her text has revealed her scholarly understanding of the author and Siam. I could not help reading it with awe and respect. Later, I came across this copy at the DASA Book Café, being reluctant to buy it at first; however, I bought it later anyway and again was not sure to read it due to its seemingly wide and abstract coverage which was a bit unfamiliar to me. I had no choice; therefore, I had to design a reading plan by taking 'Modernity' into account, that is, as the keyword of all of the following seven chapters:
One. Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand
Two. Transnational Justice
Three. Colonial Law and Buddhist Modernity in the Malay Muslim South
Four. The Imperialism of Monogamy in Family Law
Five. Crisis of Wifedom
Six. Nationalism and Male Sexuality
Seven. Subjects of History
Out of my looming perplexity while reading 'Subject Siam', I thought I would read each chapter focusing on modernity per se, keeping its meaning as related to more modern ways in mind. In other words, finding the ways as the sequel of ensuing modernity should help readers see more light on those key topics in which Siam presumably stayed uncivilized as compared to those colonizers or neighboring nations.
To continue . . .
September 7, 2018
The author looks at gender and family law in constructing Siam as a modern nation. Only after
the acceptance of civil codes on family law and inheritance were the unequal treaties imposed
by foreign powers lifted. While Thailand is proud of its independence, it has continued to
treat the four southern provinces that are predominately Malay Muslim as colonies. This is an
important work of Thai historiography.
the acceptance of civil codes on family law and inheritance were the unequal treaties imposed
by foreign powers lifted. While Thailand is proud of its independence, it has continued to
treat the four southern provinces that are predominately Malay Muslim as colonies. This is an
important work of Thai historiography.
November 6, 2010
Great overview of early modern Thai legal reforms, yet the crux of the book - family law, marriage, and sexuality - bores one to the extreme! Wish there was more political intrigue and monarchic scheming in the book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews