Inscribing Siam
The state of documentary and spatial practices
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3650751 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sing Suwannakij (Chiang Mai University), Søren Ivarsson (0009-0009-4414-0965, Sax Institute) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1596-1630 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0026749x18000112 |
| OpenAlex | W2984556378 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 40 |
The administrative (Chakri) reforms in Siam which took place around the turn of the twentieth century are probably one of the most studied topics in the history of Thailand. This period is usually described as the time when the royal elite worked to create a Siamese nation-state under the guidance of the absolute monarchy. This transformation encompassed both territorial integration and administrative centralization. Here we offer a new perspective on this transformative period through an analysis of changing documentary and spatial practices in Siam from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, which were one of the most crucial, intrinsic dynamics of state formation. The emphasis is on the mundane practices of documentation-among other spatial-material practices and processes-that produce the effect that the state exists. We show how this new paper regime articulated a standardization of written official documents, the birth of the file as a technology to deal with the avalanche of documents circulating between sections of the burgeoning administration, and the spatial organization that created the office-fields where officials produced and stored documents according to specific regulations. We exemplify this new regime of documentary practices in Bangkok and beyond, with special reference to the paper and spatial works of the provincial gendarmerie
Aesthetics · Art · Documentation · Elite · Period (music · Political science · Sociology · Standardization · State (computer science · Transformative learning · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Law · Public Administration · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
Science in action
A History of Thailand
A History of Thailand
Subject Siam
Paper Tiger
The State of Freedom
Lords of Things
The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society
Coercion, capital, and European states, AD 990-1992
Bringing the State Back In
Documents and Bureaucracy
Red Tape
Economy and Society
State Simplifications
Pandora's hope
Thailand's Theory of Monarchy
Governing Gaza
States of Imagination
The file
The autonomous power of the state
"The Quest for "Siwilai
Along the Archival Grain
Government of Paper
Seeing Like a State
Seeing Like a StateHow Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
Ruled by records
Territorialization and state power in Thailand
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |