SUVANNABHUMI (수완나부미)

Korea Institute for ASEAN Studies (부산외대 아세안연구원)
권호 표지

Negotiations in Space and Time: Changing Gender Relations in Thai Tourist-oriented Encounters

  • King, Victor T. (Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, Centre of South East Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) ;
  • Rotheray, J. (University of Leeds, the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University)
  • Received : 2019.01.22
  • Accepted : 2019.07.15
  • Published : 2019.07.31
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Abstract

The paper addresses Erik Cohen's pioneering work on tourism in Thailand, specifically his publications on the relations between Thai women and foreign (farang) men in tourist-oriented encounters. Of sociological-anthropological interest is his conceptualization of these relations as "open-ended prostitution as a skilful game of luck" based on his study of a Bangkok soi (lane) in 1981-1984, and his exploration of Thai culture in terms of ambiguity and contradiction. On the basis of recent ethnographic research in the northern Thai tourist hub of Chiang Mai and wide-ranging observations on tourism development in Thailand, we examine continuity and change in these male-female engagements since Cohen's research, especially in the context of the increasing availability of such electronic agencies as social media, messaging, video chat, and internet dating. Whereas Cohen's concept of ambiguity and illusion has tended to disappear from physical spaces, it seems to have resurfaced in virtual space. The complexities of host-guest relations, and particularly the interactions both within the variegated category of "guests" themselves and then between their "hostesses" are explored in terms of sites of tourism-oriented encounters in both physical and virtual space so as to deconstruct these oppositional categories which have been formative in studies of tourism.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We are most grateful to Professor Erik Cohen for reading a draft of the paper and providing valuable critical comments on the basis of his long engagement with Thai culture and cultural change and his path-breaking research in Bangkok. Professor Rachel Harrison also directed us to literature which we had not originally included in our discussion. We also offer thanks to the two anonymous reviewers who gave us much food for thought.

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