Social History of Village and City Pillars in Communities of Mekong River Basin

Social History of Village and City Pillars in Communities of Mekong River Basin

Authors

  • Narongrit Sumalee Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science, Nakhon Phanom University.
  • Sawan Tangtrongsithikul College of Fine Arts, Bunditpatanasilpa Institute, Ministry of Culture.
  • Juthamas Pramoonmak Independent scholars.
  • Netchanok Suna Social Welfare Officer, Practitioner Level, The Bangkok Health Office.

Keywords:

Social History, Village and City Pillar, Communities of Mekong River Basin

Abstract

This article is an attempt to raise notices on the change of believe of village-city pillars and other related beliefs. In this article it is intended to draw much of significances of the village and city pillars of communities in Mekong river basin. On the other hand, an attempt is made to reflect the figures regarding the development and transformation of local communities of the Mekong river basin through believe of Village and City Pillars since 1960s up to present day (2018).  These raised notions are presented as following: 1) the notion on the perceptions and beliefs about the village - city pillars; especially, It is widely believed that under the city pillars lie the bones of people who were sacrificed to become guardian spirits of the town. Interestingly, this belief is also reproduced through modern media. However, there are not concrete evidences which can support this belief. 2) the notion on village - city pillars and sense of community of the newly born villages in the Cold War period since 1970s-1980; it can be said that these communities formed as a part of the policy of Thai state to resist the spread of communism. So, these formed village pillars could serve of new villages as spiritual centrals, a created sense of community and confirmation of the spatial identity. 3) The notion on village - city pillars and eviction of guardian spirits and academic controversy; since 1980s, there has been a reproduction of the academic knowledge that “Phi Pu Ta” or guardian spirits play an important role in the social organization of the Issan rural villages without considering conditions of context and time, so it cannot be explained why the guardian spirits are excluded from the villages. 4) The notion on village-city pillars and the reproduction of the ideologies of Buddhism and the state; It was found that since the 1960s, Buddhist monks (Dhammayutika Nikaya) played the main roles in holy practices to exclude guardian spirits from the villages.  The new meaning was encoded instead as Dhamma (Buddhist) pillar which is purer than ghost and being dominant over general village pillar. Interestingly, the new city pillar of Vientiane is a case study of reproduction of ideology of nation state by linking the past - present - future of Laos together.

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Published

2019-04-23

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บทความวิชาการ (Academic Article)