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Palace Women at the Margins of Social Change: An Aspect of the Politics of Social History in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Hong Lysa
Hong Lysa
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
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Abstract

The reign of King Chulalongkorn, conventionally regarded as the turning point in Thailand's political development, is also understood as offering a paradigm for social history. In particular it set down standards for appreciating courtly female behaviour which entailed political submission and passivity — attitudes championed by conservative elements during the 1970s. This article argues that palace women in fact did have their own understanding of the changing world and made efforts to better their lives by moving beyond what was prescribed for them.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , September 1999 , pp. 310 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1999

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References

1 The seminal work in English language scholarship that sees Chulalongkorn's reign as the dividing line between the pre-modern and modern is Wyatt, David, The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969).Google Scholar

2 For example, see Mani, Lata, “Cultural theory, colonial texts: reading eyewitness accounts of widow burning”, in Cultural Studies, ed. Grossberg, Lawrence et al. (New York and London: Routledge, 1992).Google Scholar

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8 In the foreword to the English translation of the novel written 40 years after the first Thai publication, author Kukrit explains that he had the urge to “set down in writing the modes and mores of a disappearing age, of which he was a part”. The events and turning points in the novel were not contrived in the author's mind, but were “natural”. Pramoj, Kukrit, Si Phaendin (Four Reigns), English version by Tulchandra, 2 vols. (Bangkok: Editions Duang Kamol, 1981), p. i.Google Scholar

9 Cited in Mattani, Modern Thai Literature, pp. 136–37.

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15 Siamese royalty practises a system of declining descent. In addition, the rank of the offspring of the king depends on the rank of their mothers. A royal child whose mother is a queen or princess (chao) would be a Chaofa. Phraongchao (of which there are three grades) are royal children borne of concubines, children of chaofa fathers whose mothers are chao, or children with both father and mother of phraongchao rank. The offspring of phraongchao are momchao. See Rabibhadana, Akin, The Organisation of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period, 1782–1873 (Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 1969), pp. 99–100.Google Scholar

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25 An Anglophilic and somewhat dramatized account of this episode can be found in Minney, R.J., Fanny and the Regent of Siam (London: Collins, 1962).Google Scholar

26 The family's record of public service has been sustained by its current scion, Air Chief Marshal Sidhi Savetsila, who served as Foreign Minister in the 1980s.

27 NA, R5, Nakhonban 36/231 Klong 14, Chap Amdaeng Chom phanraya Nai Sung an wa pen khon prot nai Somdetphrarachininat kap phakphuak lokluang ngoen ratsadon khwaeng Thanyaburi [The arrest of Amdaeng Chom, wife of Nai Sung, who claimed to be a favourite of Her Majesty the Queen, and who with her accomplices, cheated the residents of Thanyaburi], 13 Jan. 1903.

28 Among the men who fell for Amdaeng Chom's scam was the 50-year-old headman of their community.

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32 NA, R5, Nakhonban, Luang Prakat dai chokong ao khrueangphetthong rupphraphan khong Mr. Andre pai… [Luang Prakat has cheated Mr Andre of his valuables], 1905.

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