SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The fieldwork material for this thesis was carried out between November 1970 and May 1972 in Kuang Pau, a suburb of a small town in northern Thailand. The community was in transition between a settled pattern of agricultural self-sufficiency and a more progressive industrialising phase encouraiged by government policy initiated in Bangkok. Traditional forms of entertainment were also adjusting to the new pressures find to the challenge of radio, television, recording eind mass literacy. The main traditional forms of entertainment were embedded in occasions such as times of festival when the community attended fairs and sermons, listened to stories and songs and watched performances of drama (like) and instruction songs (sq). The aim of the thesis is to describe the transformations that have taken place in forms of entertainment as a result of the different social milieu in which they are performed and to show that entertainments themselves can play a critical role in the process of adaptation to social change.