Panel Discussion – Indigeneity in Thailand:
Challenges and Opportunities
Ian Baird, Micah Morton, Po-Tao Chang, and TouSaiko Lee
In 2007, Thailand was one of the many countries that signed the historic United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). However, despite its apparent support for Indigenous peoples, the reality is that Thailand has adopted what is commonly referred to as the “salt-water theory”. That is, Thailand recognizes the existence of Indigenous peoples and the need to protect them, but only in the Americas, New Zealand and Australia, places where high-levels of European settler-colonialism occurred. For Thailand itself, the vast majority of inhabitants are of Asian descent (they did not cross salt-water oceans), and therefore the government does not consider the concept of Indigenous peoples to be relevant. Some upland minorities are imagined to be illegal newcomers, with uncertain citizenship. However, since the 1980s ideas about Indigenous peoples and Indigenous rights have come to Thailand, and today there are many different Indigenous peoples advocates from different minority ethnic groups in Thailand, advocating for the recognition and rights of Indigenous peoples in Thailand. When will the government of Thailand come to recognize the existence of Indigenous peoples? What are the obstacles to great recognition of Indigenous rights in Thailand? This panel discussion will address the complex nature of understandings about Indigeneity in Thailand, Indigenous rights, and Indigenous activism in Thailand.
Ian Baird is a Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Micah Morton is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University.
Po-Tao Chang is a Ph.D. Candidate in Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
TouSaiK Lee is an MA student in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This event is free and open to the public. A recording will be available on the CSEAS YouTube channel following the event.