2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The Making of Modern Siamese-Burmese Boundaries: The Ethnographic Factor
| Project/Area Number |
22K00911
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
C Pavin 京都大学, 東南アジア地域研究研究所, 准教授 (40646098)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | Territorial conflicts / Spatial knowledge / concept of sovereignty / Colonial politics / Thai-Burmese Relations |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the past year, I had worked on archival documents located at Kyoto University Library (these documents were originated in Britain). Furthermore, I organised a closed-door workshop at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, on January 25, 2023, on the topic "History of Border Demarcation of Thailand" with selected invited scholars based in Japan. The idea was to integrate different fields of knowledge to understand the ethnographic classification and the border demarcation. I also submitted the the findings in a Asian Journal of Peacebuilding on the same theme. The article was accepted (peer-reviewed) and will be published sometime in 2023.
In February-March 2023, I visited Britain. In 2005, Britain released a large number of archival documents regarding the boundary demarcation between British Burma and Siam, and made some parts available in the form of microfiches. Kyoto University is the only library in Japan that has them. My visit to Britian allowed me to also access documents on the border demarcation between Britain (Burma) and Siam from a new perspective. I fulfilled the first objective of understanding the geographic and demographic knowledge of the British. I used empirical data, such as language, religion, lifestyle, rituals and even economic behaviour, to examine the role they played in constructing ethnic classification and belongingness.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The current status of "progressing more smoothly than initially planned" is because I have already started reading some of these materials, especially parts of the “diplomatic telegrams” which recorded the ethnographic taxonomy and the bilateral negotiations. This endeavour started even before this Kakenhi project was approved. Therefore, I knew exactly where to locate these important documents. ALso because of my extensive academic networks, the closed-door workshop was a success because among these colleagues we have long collaborated on this subject. We were able to share ideas frankly, to discuss freely, to identify obstacles in the study of this subject. The successful outcome of the workshop allowed me to produced a high-quality article to be submitted for publication. As I mentioned earlier, the article was accepted and will be published sometime this year.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I will concentrate on an in-depth analysis of how the ethnographic classification led to border demarcation so to achieve the second objective. I will study different mapping techniques based on the result of ethno-classification in drawing the borderline. The attention will be paid to the choropleth mapping technique in identifying the borderline. Meanwhile, I will study the role of key actors: diplomats, historians, translators as well as Christian missionaries who also played a role in knowledge production in the border region. To discuss the method of ethnographic classification, I will convene a workshop in Britain (jointly with the Royal Historical Society) with a group of international scholars. We aim to publish the outcome in a peer-reviewed journal. This year, the outcome of the Kyoto workshop in the first year will be published. While in the UK, I will gather parts of archival documents (particularly “diplomatic telegrams”), which are not available as microfiches in Kyoto. I will spend one week for the data gathering.
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