COMPETING DISCOURSES OF HERITAGE AND CONFLICTS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF LAMPHUN, NORTHERN THAILAND

LAMPHUN, NORTHERN THAILAND
Abstract
The nature of heritage is dissonant and heritage is likely to be part of conflicts or
politics within and between classes, communities, ethnicity, identities or nations. One of
the significant heritage debates is the presence of the Western Authorised Heritage
Discourse (AHD) in non-Western societies, which may lead to tensions between
stakeholders in heritage management.
Heritage management in Non-Western countries at times sits in a complex web
of conflicts due to the existence of competing discourses that shape the way cultural
heritage is interpreted and managed. This research explores how different heritage
interest groups perceive 'cultural heritage' and respond to tensions in heritage
management arising from the competing ideologies underpinning heritage management
by mapping conflicts over heritage issues at the city of Lamphun in Northern Thailand.
There are different types of meanings and values attached to Lamphun's cultural
heritage as a consequence of the coexistence of at least three major discourses: the
traditional Buddhist/animistic worldview, the royalist- nationalist discourse and the
Western AHD. This research has shown that while Western hegemony does exist, other
competing discourses are equally influential. Heritage management will never be free of
values or politics. In a place where management or administration is centralised, the
parties that deliver globalised heritage practices are likely to be government agencies
and experts. However, the outcomes of the implementation of these protocols,
procedures or practices are often counterbalanced by traditional practices perfonned by
locals and negotiations are necessary.
The relationship between parties that adhere to different heritage discourses is in
fact on a continuum. Heritage is defined and re-defined by a range of communities as
they negotiate their identities and sense of place. These negotiations will have ongoing
influences and wilI change not only the content of heritage discourses but also which
discourses are given power and legitimacy. Heritage management, thus, should be a
dynamic practice. Even the dominant discourses can change over time. Thus, it is
difficult to define a single or 'best' set of practices that are held to be 'universally true'.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................... 10
The Case Study ................................................................................................ 12
Structure of the Thesis ..................................................................................... 20
Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................ 24
Heritage as a discourse and the Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) ......... 25
Outlining the problem ...................................................................................... 27
What is heritage? ............................................................................................. 30
Globalisation and internationalisation of heritage ........................................... 38
The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
(ICHC) ............................................................................................................. 46
World Heritage listing in Thailand: global-local heritage issues ..................... 61
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 62
and judgement in heritage studies ..................................................... 64
The nature of heritage and heritage studies ...................................................... 64
Understanding people's perception of heritage in Lamphun: qualitative inquiry
and empirical verification ................................................................................ 67
Analytical Framework ...................................................................................... 81
Difficulties and issues to consider in Fieldwork 2009 and 2010 ..................... 82
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 85
management ....................................................................................... 86
Ethnic Composition ........................................................................................ 100
Discourse I: The religious worldview ............................................................ 137
Discourse 11: Nationalism and the Triad of Nation-Religion-Monarchy ....... 159
Discourse Ill: The international or Western understanding of heritage ......... 171
Lamphun, the coexistence of competing discourses and impacts on cultural
heritage ........................................................................................................... 182
Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 183
cultural heritage management in Lamphun ..................................... 185
Identifying conflict parties, history and context in Lamphun ........................ 186
Assessment of relationships between parties and their responses to heritage
conflicts .......................................................................................................... 213
Party orientation and conflict dynamics: tensions between different sectors of
Lamphun's society and causative factors ....................................................... 216
Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 247
Background to the World Heritage listing project ......................................... 250
Different parties' responses to Lamphun's proposal for World Heritage listing
........................................................................................................................ 257
Issues in the preparation of Lamphun's nomination for World Heritage listing
........................................................................................................................ 275
Possible solutions for Lamphun's cultural heritage management and examples
of other similar cases in Thailand .................................................................. 286
Political situation along the Thai-Cambodian border and the likely impacts on
Lamphun ........................................................................................................ 295
Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 297
on Heritage ....................................................................................... 299
Heritage and Identity ...................................................................................... 303
Globalisation, Internationalisation and Hegemonic Discourses in Heritage
Management at Lamphun ............................................................................... 308
Conclusion: .................................................................................................... 325
The 'Meaning of Heritage' Survey ................................................................ 336
Inten"iew Questions ....................................................................................... 337
Appendix 2: ..................................................................................... 341
A summary ofthe results ofthe 'Meaning of Heritage' Survey .................... 341
Appendix 3: Relevant Thai legislation and documents .................. 348
Act on Ancient Monuments, Antiques, Objects of Arts and National Museums,
B.E. 2504 (1961) ............................................................................................ 348
Regulation for Monument Conservation, The Fine Arts Department 1985 ... 360
Abbreviations and Glossary ............................................................ 363
Figure 1.2: Lamphun and its key cultural heritage 15
Figure 3.1: Key heritage sites in the proposed conservation zone of Lamphun 72
Figure 4.1: Lamphun and key heritage sites 90
Figure 4.2: Heritage sites in the walled Old Town zone 91
Figure 4.3: Lamphun's key tangible heritage 103
Figure 4.4: The morphology of different cities in Northern Thailand 104-5
Figure 4.5: The conch-shaped city plan and the idea behind it 106
Figure 4.6: The current conditions of the six city gates 108
Figure 4.7: The main components ofa Lanna wat 111
Figure 4.8: The four temples situated at four cardinal points of the city 112
Figure 4.9: Famous amulets of Lamphun found at the four 'spiritual fortresses' 113
Figure 4.10: Monuments in Wat Phrathat Haripunchai 115
Figure 4.11: Religious structures in Wat Phra Yeun 116-7
Figure 4.12: Wat Jama Thewi and the two Haripunchai stupas 118-9
Figure 4.13: Wat Ku La Mak 119
Figure 4.14: The Royal Elephant and Horse shrines 120
Figure 4.15: Three clusters of ancient monuments at Wiang Koh Klang 122
Figure 4.16: Wiang Koh Klang 123
Figure 4.17: Artefacts found at the excavation ofWiang Koh Klang 124
Figure 4.18 A map showing connections between places and intangible heritage 126
6
Figure 4.19: Relationship between intangible heritage and places in the Old 127
Town zone
Figure 4.21: Traditional dance in dedication to Phrathat Haripunchai 130
Figure 4.22: Klong Luang, a percussive musical instrument 131
Figure 5.1: Diagram comparing what participants think is the meaning of the 144
term 'cultural heritage'
Figurer 5.2: Diagram showing types of heritage that participants are assocated 145
with
Figure 5.3: Diagram showing reasons for visiting heritage sites or getting 145
involved in intangible heritage
Figure 6.2: The Royal Elephant and Horse shrines 203
Figure 6.3: A new finial that will replace the old, but still usable, one and a 219 donation box
Figure 6.4: Comparison of two square stupas 220
Figure 6.5: Modem structures are built on top of or in the vicinity of remnants 222 of the past.
Figure 6.6: Modem structures are built on top of or in the vicinity of remnants of the past 222
Figure 6.7: The Royal Elephant shrine represents the coexistence of spirit cults and Buddhism in the past and at present 239-40
Figure 7.1: Luang Prabang 281
Figure 7.2: Hoi An 284
Figure 7.3: Sukhothai Historical Park 288
Figure 8. 1: Community consultation sessions 314
7
Table 3.1: List of expert interviewees 74
Table 3.2: List of ethnographic interviewees 75
Table 5.1: Table of participants' responses to the question 'Please name three 147-8 (or more) items that you think are Lamphun's key cultural heritage'.
Table 6.1: A comparison between traditional Lanna and Kruba Sriwichai's 226-7 achitectural styles
Table 6.2: Responses to the question 'Who do you think should be involved in 231 the management of Lamphun's cultural heritage?'
Table 7.1: Participants' responses to the question 'What do you understand by 253 the term World Heritage?'
Table 7.2: Participants' responses to the question 'Do you want Lamphun to be 255 a World Heritage Site?
Table 7.3: Participants' responses to the question 'Why do you want Lamphun 255-6 to be a World Heritage site? '
Table 7.4.1: 'What do you think are advantages of Lamphun being a World 256 Heritage site?'
Table 7.4.2: 'What do you think are disadvantages of Lam ph un being a World 256 Heritage site?'
Table 8.1: The number of tourists and excursionists in Lamphun from 2001- 310 2005
8
Acknowledgements
I would like first to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Laurajane Smith and Dr. Kevin
Walsh for the supervision and valuable guidance on my research and my life at
university and all the encouragement and moral support for me throughout the time at
the University of York. I am also deeply grateful to Peter Gouldsborough and Steve
Roskams for the useful comments in every Thesis Advisory Panel, and the Royal Thai
government for the scholarship. Further, I also would like to thank all the staff, Friday
heritage reading group, and colleagues at the department of Archaeology, University of
York, whose knowledge enabled me to widen my knowledge and attitudes towards
cultural heritage. Special thanks must be given to Gary Campbell and Dr. Malcolm
Wren for editing my work.
In addition, my thesis would not have been completed without support from
responsible figures in Thailand including: Dr. Pensupa Sukhata Jai-in, Mrs Benjawan
Polprasert and all the officials at Haripunchai national museum; Mr. Witoon and Mrs.
Pranee Tanthanachot and other experts and staff from Synchron Group Ltd; experts from
ICOMOS Thailand; and Mister Sawang Malasam. I would like to thank these people for
support, guidance and providing me with opportunities to participate in relevant
activities and to access sources of information necessary for the completion of my thesis.
I would also like to acknowledge the useful contributions from Assistant
Professor Somchot Ongsakul and other lecturers at eMU; Former Director of Sukhothai
National Park, Former Director of the Regional Office of Fine Arts in Chiang Mai;
Director of Lamphun Buddhism Office; Head of Lamphun Municipal Office; Town
planning office; Mayor of the T AO; Dhamma Heritage Park and all other experts in the
heritage fields and all the participants of the survey. Your valuable insights are an
important part of my thesis.
Finally, I am forever indebted to my beloved parents, friends of the family in
Thailand, lovely friends and housemates in the UK for their understanding, patience,
support and encouragement every time I required it. Everyone has been instrumental in
the successful completion of this research.
Declaration
I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. The secondary data and
other sources are identified in the footnotes and bibliography.
Sasitsaya Saengphueng, September 2011
Chapter 1: Introduction
Having been brought up in an historical town in Thailand, and trained as an
archaeologist in the United Kingdom, I found that my perception of heritage has
been influenced by different ideologies. In fact, my perception of heritage has
constantly changed as I have grown up and been exposed to new experience. As
a highschool student who was impressed with Indiana Jones and his quest for
priceless artefacts, I came to appreciate objects and monuments of outstanding
values and the attached narratives that fascinate the world. As an underdgraduate
archaeology student, I always believed that conservation of heritage should be a
common interest of humanity and the destruction of authenticity was a serious
crime against objects' value. As a consequence, I inevitably felt irritated that
much of the physical heritage in Thailand has been renovated or restored by host
communities, or even state agencies, with no respect for the original designs. I
felt even more irritated when a number of friends and acquaintances showed too
little interest in cultural heritage or cultural activities. However, as I exposed
myself to various types of heritage practice in my fieldwork and in my private
time, I started to understand that the community of heritage professionals is only
one community of interest. In a place like Thailand, heritage management has
never been free of tensions or conflicts and heritage professionals at times need
to compromise their needs and expectations. A series of questions, thus, emerged
in my mind: Should there be a globalised set of conservation and management
practices? What might be the solution to conflicts over heritage issues, if
different communities really understand 'cultural heritage' differently?
This research attempts to examine how, and to what extent, Western or
international standardised heritage practices have been employed in Thailand,
and how locals respond to this Western Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD).
This research focuses on the city of Lamphun, the first historic town in Northern
Thailand, where the World Heritage listing campaign was launched and
mobilised by local heritage agencies, state agencies and some representatives of
communities. The following sub-questions aim to investigate heritage
management issues that occur in Lamphun:
10
1. What do Lamphun local residents perceive as 'cultural heritage'? What
types of values and significance are attached to such heritage?
This thesis studies perceptions of heritage and associated values held by
different parties: state agencies, the communities of monks, local communities
and communities of experts. It also explores issues related to the meaning­
making process of heritage, for example, the work explores how these
communities link heritage identity and collective memory.
2. Are Lamphun residents' perceptions of cultural heritage different from
the officialised meanings at both national and intemationallevels?
After exploring what constituted Lamphun's heritage, and how the
knowledge of heritage in Lamphun is constructed, this research investigates the
differences and similarities between traditional and official Thai and
international ideologies underlying heritage practices in Lamphun.
3. What are the principles in conservation and management adopted by
responsible organisations in Lamphun? Are there any difficulties in pursuing
such management strategies? How do different communities respond to these
heritage management strategies?
principles in heritage management, and examining difficulties and conflicts of
interest between parties involved in the current management systems.
4. Do local residents feel that heritage management is a duty they should
engage in? Are residents involved in heritage practice in the city, such as
community consultation, training, etc?
concerning different communities' opinions on heritage management, and
analysing policy documents and regulations, such as the Master Plan for the
preparation ofLamphunfor World Heritage listing.
11
5. Why do different parties want Lamphun to be inscribed on the World
Heritage list? Will the campaign for World Heritage listing create conflicts
among different communities in Lamphun? What are local residents' responses
to the proposal for World Heritage listing?
This question aims to further investigate local reactions to the World
Heritage listing campaign, and explore the cultural work that the campaign does
in Lamphun society.
6. If there are differences in values and practices between communities of
interest, how can such conflicts be resolved? Will the use of regionally or locally
developed principles reduce tensions among stakeholders?
This final question aims to explore what has been done, if anything, to
resolve the problems identified by this research and to speculate on what a
resolution may be for Lamphun.
The Case Study
Lamphun, the case study for this research, is the smallest province in the north of
Thailand, with an area of approximately 4,505,882 km2 , or approximately 4.85%
of the entire upper northern region (Freeman 2001: 107). It was the capital of the
Haripunchai kingdom, which was located north of a group of kingdoms in
Siampradesh (Wallipodom 1998). Haripunchai is thought to have been the
northernmost kingdom, and was influenced by the Dvaravati cultures from
central Thailand. Many chronicles suggested that Queen Jama Thewi, the first
ruler of Haripunchai, came from Lavo, one of the Dvaravati states in the central
plain of Siampradesh (Wyatt 1982). Lamphun was the administrative, cultural
and religious centre of the Northern kingdoms from the early eighth century until
1296, when it fell under Lanna rule (Leksukhum 2006: 18). Although Lamphun's
political significance, as the most dominant polity among Northern Thai states,
was diminished due to the invasion of other polities, its cultural significance, as
the centre of Buddhism among the Northern kingdoms, has been maintained.
However, Lamphun's original cultural traditions were not handed down from
ancestors to later generations without intervention from external influences.
When Lamphun was incorporated into the Lanna kingdom, it adopted a wide
12
spectrum of Lanna arts and cultures, which remain the most dominant cultures in
Lamphun.
F igure 1. I: Ma p of Lam phun
Lamphun is located in Northern Thailand . The city is divided into seven districts
and one minor district.
Lamphun was chosen as a good case study firstly because of its cultural
significance as the first historic kingdom in Northern Thailand, dating back to
over 1,300 years ago (Freeman 2001 : 107). Lamphun has also been well known
as a prosperous religious centre since the time of its establishment (Haripunchai
National Museum 2008). The Buddha relic shrine, Phrathat Haripunchai, which
is located at the heari of the Old Town, emphasises Lamphun's importance as the
religious centre of the region. Secondly, conflicts that emerge as a consequence
of the coexistence of the competing discourses of heritage have been reported in
Lamphun, and these will contribute insights into international and national
13
debates with regard to heritage management. Although Lamphun is still largely
an agricultural province, an essential feature that helps to maintain a traditional
and community-based way of life (Synchron 2009b), modern intervention and
other activities, which have affected the authenticity and integrity of the fabric of
heritage, can be seen within the old town (ONEP 2009: 21). The conflicting
nature of Lamphun may reflect how different parties adhere to different heritage
discourses in heritage management, and explain what underlies each party's
perception of cultural heritage. Additionally, the 'Lamphun to World Heritage'
campaign introduced to the wider public in 2004 has brought changes of
practices, generated serious discussions on heritage issues among local residents
and experts, and made the conflicts more visible to local residents and observers.
(See map of Lamphun's key tangible and intangible heritage on the next page)
14
f- Budha Relic shrine, located at the heart of the city and in the heart of locals.
Textile production sites, famous for cotton hand­ woven cloth.
-.:~-- ; :-, -
Mon and ancien t inscriptions
f-A large number of li ving walS,
including the 4 wats designated 'spiritual fortresses ' by the fi rst ruler. Quintessentially relig ious town.
f- Connection to the Dvaravati culture.
f- Renowned Buddha amulets antique-l overs are willinl! to fil!ht for.
Old buildings, various architectural styles
f- Richncss of seasonal, agricultural and Buddhist intangible tradi tions.
f- Heri tage sites related to the Queen Jama The\\'i folklore.
Figure 1. 2: Lamphun and its key cultural heritage
15
Research Significance
This thesis uses the influential work of Denis Byrne, which focused on the
influence of Western or Eurocentric ideologies in cultural heritage management
in non-Western countries, particularly Thailand, as its starting point (Byrne 1993:
240). Byrne established that ancient places and objects are not socially
constructed by single acts of interpretation, but interpreted in the light of
lingering and dominant discourses. In Thailand, Western ethics and ideologies
were imported by the government, and have become an influential discourse in
heritage management. Nonetheless, Thai traditional discourses have not totally
been supplanted, and are still active in many places, and in some cases local
beliefs or cultures have influenced the reception of Western ideologies (Byrne
1993: 245). These discourses influence heritage practices at different levels. This
thesis builds on Denis Byrne's thesis of 1993, by exploring how the different
heritage discourses that he identified work in different communities at the local
level in Thailand, using Lamphun as a case study. It first explores the influence
of traditional Buddhist and Animistic beliefs on the public perception of cultural
heritage. It documents how tangible and intangible heritage is understood
according to Theravada Buddhist and Animistic ideologies to see whether
heritage practices in Thailand, particular in the area of the conservation of
Buddhist heritage, have changed since the completion of Byrne's thesis in 1993.
This thesis also explores the cultural work of other 'secularist' ideologies that
have been imported from the Western world, the Western conservation ethic, and
most importantly, the nationalist ideologies constructed for the creation of a
unitary nation-state.
Byrne expressed concerns in his thesis that…