Research Project
The Study of Tai Baan-Müang: Present State, Problems and Directions
Two years ago the SEACOM Southeast Asia Communication Centre Berlin, started a research project on Tai baan-müang systems. The aim was to evolve a multidisciplinary approach to the theme by encouraging researchers from different disciplines to work on or to present their recent works on Tai baan-müang. The problem was that understanding of baan-müang is not uniform, since there are no exact definition or systematic and detailed analysis of the phenomenon of baan-müang. The upshot is that, Tai baan-müang has been studied in the past from very different perspectives. An intermediate result of the project was published as a thematic issue of the International Review on Tai Cultural Studies Tai Culture in December 1998. By Oliver Raendchen and Jana Raendchen Scholars dealing with Tai peoples, have often been confronted with the baan-müang concept and various hypotheses had been developed to expatiate on it. Since the early seventies Vietnamese and (Vietnamese) Tai researchers have analysed the structure of the baan-müang system especially that found among the Tai peoples in northern Vietnam. In their understanding the baan-müang is the most typical type of social organization of the Tai. Unfortunately, the findings of the Vietnamese scholars, with some exceptions, have been published only in Vietnamese and this has robbed them of the proper consideration they should have enjoyed in Tai studies.Another approach to the baan-müang problem is village community studies, which have been developed, not without controversy to apply to the 'loose structure' model. Although village community studies in general concentrate on the baan and do not tackle the question of the traditional müang, different dimensions and elements of Thai(land´s) village communities have been studied and analysed. One major problem in the field of village studies is that the village community is looked at as an isolated model or, in other words, it is seen from the perspective of economic and political history as a unit of the centralized political state. The term müang has often been interpreted as state, meaning the modern political state, which does not adequately cover its original concept.
To resolve the problems of this paradigm, the 'contextualization of the village', which means placing a village community in a total perspective, associated with the idea of integrated micro-macro study, is proposed. Village community studies, whether focusing on the village at micro level or on the village community as an element of a whole (economic, social, political) structure in perspective of the Thai state and globalization, inductably demonstrate that there is 'something' between village and state.
The 'element' which is between village and state has impinged especially on researchers concentrating on the study of Tai irrigation systems. The management of such systems cannot be reduced to the village level, but must be seen in a wider context which is that of the müang, a consolidation of several villages forming an 'irrigation community'.
Another dimension of village and müang communities has been taken into consideration by Australian scholars. In a thematic issue of "Mankind", they focus on ritual and the position of women within Tai communities. From the analysis of communal cults and rituals, the special relationship between baan and müang can be deducted. This has not only a religious, but also an obvious socio-political dimension.
French scholars have emphasized the perspective of baan-müang administration and political history. Starting from the point that irrigation systems, which function at the village supra-level, need a special form of administration, the inner structures of baan-müang systems have been reconstructed. The model-like reconstruction of the baan-müang system gives answers to many questions far beyond the bounds of Tai socio-political history. It also explains the incorporation of non-Tai communities into Tai müang; the impossibility of having clearly defined borderlines between various müang; and the role of tributary exchange and kinship relations between the müang aristocracies.
The different approaches show that Tai baan-müang systems cannot be looked at from one point of view only. Baan-müang are well structured systems of social, political and economic organization, and it is not possible to separate social life from religion, politics, or economy, for instance. It is important to have a many-sided, i.e. interdisciplinary, perspective on baan-müang to understand the structural complexity of the whole system. Another important aspect is to have a historical perspective. Actual societal trends are only explicable if their historical backgrounds are known. For this, the study and translation of original Tai historical sources shares an equivalent importance with the analysis of the developments of the last two centuries as well as present-day matters and transformations.
The study of baan-müang is a problem which cannot be solved by one single researcher or research group. It needs the collaboration of scholars in different disciplines: anthropology as well as sociology, historiography as well as linguistics and philology. It is also impossible to give a comprehensive analysis or even attempt a description of baan-müang systems in one single book: baan-müang, as one leading scholar in Tai Studies stated, is Tai culture, and knowledge of baan-müang would fill a whole encyclopaedia.
Interdisciplinary Study
Authors concerned with Tai culture are far from suggesting the compilation of a baan-müang encyclopaedia, particularly the study of baan-müang systems is only just beginning. The thematic issue on Tai Culture is nothing more than an attempt to get a many-sided interdisciplinary and comparative view on baan-müang and to introduce some different approaches to the study of the baan-müang systems of the Tai. The publication focuses especially on three main dimensions of baan-müang, economy, administration, and religion. Another dimension, namely interethnic exchange, and especially non-Tai ethnic influences on and similarities to elements in non-Tai societies with elements of baan-müang, was emphasized by a number of researchers. As a matter of fact, the different dimensions are inexorably interrelated.
To introduce the theme baan-müang, Cam Trong´s summary of his long-term research on Tai socio-political systems, as well as contributions on the linguistic backgrounds of baan-müang and the naming of müang have been given pride of place in the publications.
In the section irrigation works and law, a revised version of Vanpen´s analysis of northern Thai irrigation management and laws, the interrelationship between water-irrigation, müang administration, and the constitution of law is described. Actual aspects of water resource management and administration are discussed by Attwater and Kumiko Kato. Schenk-Sandbergen concentrates on the role of women in supporting irrigation works in a Lao community. She shows that a gender-specific perspective, up to now largely neglected, is a necessity in the study of baan-müang systems.
In the section Administration and Political History some aspects of formal administration in baan and müang are discussed. Understanding müang is to see it not just as an administrative, but also as a political unit, which never exists in isolation from other political units. Taking this approach, the historical significance of the baan-müang system inelvetably takes shape. Nguyen Duy Thieu writes on the administration history of Müang Sing (northern Laos) and especially the interethnic relationships in that müang.
The administrative system in Thailand was transformed almost hundred years ago, when the traditional baan-müang organization was replaced by the more centralized state administration. That administrative transformation was not without problems, as the article by Bilmes shows.
In the third section Cosmology and Ritual new research results on communal cults and their cosmological backgrounds are presented. The müang concept is one of the most significant elements in Tai cosmology. Sithiporn argues, that the naak (Naga) is one of the outstanding, if not the central figure in Tai-Lao mythology, since this figure is believed to be both creator and destroyer. Shamis investigates the naak figure on Tai textiles, taking the possible gender specific meaning of the naak into consideration. Raendchen analyses the ritual and socio-political functions of the lak ('city pillar'), which is a central institution in Tai baan and müang systems. Gogoi´s article deals with rituals related to rice cultivation in Ahom communities and once again proves the interrelationship between religion, administration, and economy. Tannenbaum describes the transformed social system of Shan communities in northwestern Thailand.
In the last section on Ethnic Perspectives of Tai Baan-Müang, Nguyen Xuan Hien compares community structures of the Viet, Tai, and Chinese. Sommai discusses some aspects of Lawa traditions connected with the cult of the lak in Chiang Mai. The question of migration and intra-Tai and interethnic cultural exchange concerns Howard in his analysis of Tai textiles. The thematic issue ends with a selected bibliography of baan-müang studies.
Why Baan-Müang Studies?
Starting from the point of view that what is called baan-müang in all Tai dialects and languages is one of the basic concepts in the socio-economic and socio-political organization of the Tai, is to begin to achieve a sense of the importance of baan-müang in the space of Tai cultures and societies. The baan-müang concept is also reflected in mythology and ritual practice. Even if ideologically influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism, or Chinese religious beliefs, as it is the case with many rituals of agricultural origin or with cults connected with water irrigation in the lunar cycle, ritual practice right up to today is a matter for the community whether this be at the level of the baan or of the müang.
The study of baan-müang gives an insight into administration, irrigation, society, religion, and cosmology, and it also illuminates many questions about traditional forms of commerce, communication and transportation, as well as the question of ecology.Very importantly, the baan-müang concept is one key factor for group identity and self-identification.
Although the actual importance of baan-müang is clearly evident, the institution is not without its controversies. This is understandable when it is remembered, that the traditional structures of baan-müang are disappearing, bowing to the growing influence of modern state systems and cleaving to 'globalization' in general. But this cannot be accepted as an argument for neglecting the study of baan-müang.
The research project will be continued, with the aim of producing a second thematical issue of Tai Culture. It is planned to emphasize Tai baan-müang cosmology and the constitution of laws. In preparation for this second phase of the research project, three SEACOM workshops have been held. It is planned to have more workshops and on-line workshops to discuss baan-müang topics. Anyone interested in the on-line workshops should visit the SEACOM website at www.seacom.de
References
Cohen, Paul T. and Gehan Wijeyewardene (eds.): Introduction to Spirit Cults and the Position of Women in Northern Thailand. Mankind 14 (4), 1984
Hirsch, Philip (ed.): The Village in Perspective: Community and Locality in Rural Thailand. Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 1993
Lemoine, Jaques: Féodalité Tai chez les Lü des Sipsong Panna et les Tai Blancs, Noirs et Rouges du Nord Ouest du Viêt-Nam. In: Péninsule 35 (2), 'Systemes politiques des marches du monde Chinois', 1997, pp. 171-218
Taillard, Christian: Les régimes politiques passent... Les échelles d`organisation de l`espace demeurent. Essai sur l`héritage des systèmes politiques Thai au Laos. in: Matras-Guin, J./Taillard, C.: Habitations et habitat d`Asie du Sud-Est continentale. Pratiques et représentations de l`espace. Paris 1992
Vanpen Surarerks: Historical Development and Management of Irrigation Systems in Northern Thailand. Chiang Mai University 1986
Contact address:
Oliver Raendchen
SEACOM Southeast Asia Communication Centre
Fischerinsel 1 (1307)
D- 10179 Berlin
Germany
Phone: (0049)-30-201 37 70
Fax: (0049)-30-247 94 58
e-mail: 1@seacom.de