Rituals of National Loyalty

by Bowie, Katherine A.

• ISBN13: 9780231103916
• ISBN10: 0231103913
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-10-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

In the 1970s, the Thai state organized the Village Scout movement to counter communist insurgency. The movement was soon used to thwart growing demands for democratic reform, recruiting five million members to become the largest mass organization in Thai history, and, mobilized by the military-controlled media, helped topple a civilian government and restore military rule. This book bridges both the macro and micro levels of analysis to place the dynamics of a national political movement within a richly detailed account of its working at the village level.

Author Biography

Katherine Bowie is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
A Note on the Photographs
List of Photographs
List of Figures and Tables
Introduction: Toward an Anthropology of the Right	p. 1
Magic and Mayhem: Of Ritual and Class	p. 19
Mayhem and October 6	p. 21
A Class-Based Analysis of Ritual	p. 33
Awe to Persuasion	p. 47
Genesis in Conflict	p. 55
The Official Genesis	p. 56
The State of Thai Communism	p. 59
Communism and the Shaping of the Thai State	p. 71
The Expansion: The Monarchy and the Middle Classes	p. 81
The Importance of Royal Patronage	p. 82
The Creation of Symbolic Power	p. 87
The Polarization of the Civilian Period	p. 99
The Moratorium: Fissures on the Right	p. 113
The Right: The Appearance of Strength	p. 114
Reasons for the Moratorium	p. 116
Factors Ending the Moratorium	p. 136
Setting the Agrarian Stage	p. 147
From the Cities to the Countryside	p. 149
Political Polarization in the North	p. 152
The Moratorium Ends	p. 168
From Humor to Hysteria: Turning Villagers into Subjects	p. 183
Day 1: From Villagers to Tiger Cubs	p. 185
Day 2: A Day of Lessons	p. 193
Day 3: Developing the Theme of Unity	p. 206
Day 4: Setting the Final Structure in Place	p. 211
Day 5: Building to the Climax	p. 219
Mixed Metaphors: The Class Struggle Unmasked	p. 235
The Ideology: The National Scout Family	p. 236
Effect on Village Initiates over Time	p. 246
Of Communism and the Poor	p. 255
Aftermath at the District Level	p. 263
Declawing the Tigers	p. 269
Updating the National Movement	p. 270
Hegemony and State Rituals	p. 280
Appendix	p. 287
Notes	p. 299
Bibliography	p. 343
Index	p. 375
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