Multiculturalism from Below: Indigeneity and the Struggle for Recognition in Thailand

Abstract

This article highlights the political work Indigenous activists in Thailand carried out in recent years in claiming Indigenous status and pressing for legal and political recognition by the Thai state. I frame this work as a form of “multiculturalism from below” geared more toward inclusion and accommodation than sovereignty and decolonization. This makes the movement distinct from many other parts of the Indigenous world. I further frame the activists’ movement as a form of “governmentality from below” in that they are adopting a highly conscious strategy of self-surveying and self-enumeration that aims to define and render visible Thailand’s diversity while legitimizing their cultural claims and performances of Indigeneity. This case drives home the point that Indigeneity is a highly malleable concept that, while usable by different groups of people in different moments, brings with it constraints and possibilities reflecting the nature of relations between those groups and the state.