“My 'W/Ri[Gh]T/E' and My Land”

“My ‘W/ri[gh]t/E’ and My Land”: A Postcolonial Feminist Study on Grassroots’ Archives and Autobiography (1937-2004) By Sinith Sittirak A thesis submitted in fulfillment the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2013 To Jaroon Ek-in, my mentor and brother-in-law, who was a dedicated educator in the Thai Ministry of Education. Jaroon had waited many years for the completion of this thesis. Sadly, he passed away a few months prior to its conclusion. iii Abstract Inspired by the story of Pornpet Meuansri, a land rights activist, who was brutally killed on the way back home from her farm leaving behind her 400 petitions, diaries, letters, news clippings, court documents and other archival records, my thesis aims to answer the central questions of “Can the subaltern write? And how do we begin to read their writing?” These questions are then addressed within the combined frameworks of postcolonial geography and feminist research practice specifically focusing on auto/biography and the innovative approaches of revelatory reading and engaging women’s archives and women’s life narratives intersubjectively. In this regard, Trinh Thi Minh-ha's idea of “territorialised knowledge” as well as Luce Irigaray's notion of “approaching the other as other” and Spivak's question "Can the subaltern speak?" are applied to Pornpet’s work in an effort to create a more inclusive postcolonial geographical knowledge which reflects more in-depth race and class specificities. As a result, the thesis elaborates upon three significant areas of original contribution to the disciplines of postcolonial feminist geography and archives studies: theoretical, methodological and epistemological. Firstly and theoretically, this study advances postcolonial feminist scholarship by applying the concept of ‘colonialism within’, a missing piece not touched upon by postcolonial feminist thinkers. Moreover, the study shifts the current discursive debates on postcolonial archives studies to ‘subalternity into crisis’ in that, at least in Pornpet's case, she attempts to be heard and understood on her own terms in an effort to overcome her own subalternity. In this regard, the thesis asserts that overcoming subalternity is not possible without also having the dominants unlearn their privilege, and therefore overcome the internalised structured hearing of the dominant discourses that silence and marginalise the subaltern. Therefore, this thesis explores this possibility through Irigaray’s work on ‘listening’ and intersubjective dialogue. Secondly and methodologically, the thesis critically and creatively applies the feminist innovative approach of ‘revelatory reading' to assess the subaltern’s archives by developing Irigaray’s notion of “approaching the [sexuate and racial] other as the other” and applying it to the reading of texts of (deceased) others, specifically, the texts of a subaltern (-ity into crisis), in creative ways, eg reading ‘becoming’, reading ‘silence’ and reading ‘listening’, respectively. Thirdly and epistemologically, a radical interpretation of the concept of de-bureaucratisation or a grassroots woman’s critique of mainstream Thai feminist scholarship is applied through the framework of Buddhism and the utilisation of multiple forms of inscription. This results in not only interrupting the homogenising effects of “Women and Development” and mainstream feminist discourse in Thailand, but it also brings the often ignored issue of patriarchal state ‘violence’ (through writing) against (men and) women to the forefront. Above all, a study on writing from women’s personal experience in the context of oppressive public structures not only reveals the hidden space of the internal colonial bureaucratic system but also offers the tools to challenge the centralised state organisation’s patriarchal structure. In this regard, a feminist critique that establishes both a body of knowledge built up from missing perspectives and that is directed by the need for a more just and equitable society will enrich the lives of (both) women (and men) and other “subalterns”. iv Appreciations The term “acknowledgment” has always struck me as a misnomer that carries with it more an obligatory recognition of debt than the valued recognition that appreciation implies. How to convey that gratitude that comes from those savored friendships, nourished by trust and care, that in turn enable bolder forays and more engaged critique? (2009: xi). Agreeing with Ann Laura Stoler, an anthropologist and the author of Along the Archival Grain, I would like to start my thesis by showing my appreciation to the many people who had lent me their support along the way. First, are my supervisors, Dr. Teresia Teaiwa and Dr. John McKinnon, who patiently walked alongside me throughout my intellectual (unmapped) journey. Secondly, there is Dr. Fali Langdana, Dr. Valerie Schenk and my general practitioners, Dr. Susie Poon and Dr. Sue Pullon, who all contributed to my recovery from a serious illness that befell me part way through my dissertation. Thirdly, there are my graduate colleagues, friends and supporters who were always ‘within reach’: Peter Kitchenman, Peter Kohnke, Ed Challie, Leicester Cooper, Mario Alayon, Shabana Khan, Anaria Tangohau, Kath Boswell, Jan Thomson, Don Mudalige, Cheryl McDonald, Maria Lovrod, Maria Ashe, Grace Pamungkas, Jenny Hickman, Emily Parker, Petros Hadjicostas, Tuanjai Nuipium, Kampol Champapan and Chanida Chitbundid. Last but not least, there is my family who waited (in Bangkok) enduringly and unconditionally for the completion of my work and the end of its long journey. v Table of Contents Page Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….……iii Appreciations……………………………………………………………………. iv Chapter 1: (of) Beginnings and Background ……………………..………...…..1 1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..….…...1 1.1.1 Statement of Research Problems: Charting the Landscape of Knowledge Production on Thai Women and Development.……………………..…..…..2 1.1.2 Literature Review on Thai Women and Development ………………………..…...5 1.2 Research Approach and Methodology: The ‘Frame’ of the Work and The ‘Work’ in the Frame…………………………………………………………………..…..... 6 1.2.1 On Postcolonial Geography and Feminist Research Methodology……………..... 7 1.2.2 ‘Autobiography’ and ‘Autoethnography’ ---What Are They and Why Do I Write My Thesis This Way?……………………………………….……12 1.2.3 On and About ‘Reading Intersubjectively’……………………………………….. 15 1.2.4 The Politics of Reflexivity (and Footnoting) .…………………………................. 35 1.3 Structure of the thesis………………………………………………………………………. 36 1.4 Significance ……………………………………………………………………...………….38 vi Chapter 2: (in-) Between the (Two)Fields………………………....…………...40 2.1 Learning (in) Between the (Two) Fields (of Lives and of the Archives)…………………...40 2.1.1 Subject Locating: ‘Why’ Pornpet? …………………..…………………………...40 2.1.2 When is Pornpet? : How Has ‘She’ Been Approached? …………………………41 2.1.3 Archives in the ‘Field’ and In the Field of Archives ………………………….….41 2.2 Reflecting the Fields: Reading Pornpet – Reading Irigaray and on the Way to Writing ‘Intersubjectively’ …………………..…………………..…………………… 45 2.2.1 Positionality…………………..…………………..……..……………………….. 46 2.2.2 (Language) De-objectification…………………………………………………… 47 2.2.3 Dialogue ……………………………………..…………………………………... 48 2.2.4 Reflexivity……………………………………..………………………………..... 49 Chapter 3: Behind the Archival Grain…………………………………………52 3.1 Script, Space and (the State of) Gender, Partiality and Biography ……….……………..... 52 3.1.1 The Landscape of Three (related) Paddy Duty Receipts ………………………... 53 3.1.2 Script, Space and (the State of) Gender………………….…………………….… 59 3.1.3 Script, Space and the (State of) Partiality …………..…………………………… 62 3.1.4 Script, Space and the (State of) Biography……………………..………………... 64 3.2 Script, Space and the ‘State’ Formation………………………………………………..........66 3.2.1 ‘State’ Formation and Its Debate……….…………………………........................67 3.2.2 ‘State’ Formation and Personal Identification ……………………........................68 3.2.3 ‘State’ Formation and Its Bureaucratisation……………………………………....73 3.3 Script, Space and the ‘State’ of Philosophy………………………………………………...76 vii Chapter 4: Becoming a Writer ……………………………………………...... 80 4.1 Reading Pornpet’s (Introduction into Writing Culture through Her) Dressmaking Course Notebook ……………………….......................................................……80 4.1.1 Reading the ‘Latitude and Longitude’ of the Female Figure: from Basic to Technique …………………………………………………………..…...81 4.1.2 Reading Body-Mapping (through Unmapping) ………………..............................85 4.1.3 Reading the ‘Linkage’: From Dressmaking to Protesting ……………………......86 4.2 Pornpet’s Customer Account Record: Reading Archives from Below …………………..... 89 4.2.1 Reading the Raw Facts from a ‘Non-mainstream’ Diary ……………………...….89 4.2.2 A Female Managed Economy ………………………………………………...…..91 4.2.3 Women’s Space: Beyond the Public/Private Dichotomy ……………....................92 4.2.4 Reading (History) from Below: Reading the ‘Un-conventional Archives’ to Reveal the ‘Un-represented’ in the Dominant Archives……………………..…….....97 4.2.5 ReadingLike a Women and Reading the Linkages: Why Is There Only One Customer’s Account Record? …………...……………...........99 Chapter 5: Becoming a Protester …………………………………………......105 5.1 The 1965 Diary: Displacement, Dialogue and Decolonising: (or Bureaucracy, Buddhism and Becoming) ………………..................................................... 105 5.1.1 “‘August 6, 1963’: Our Family Was Almost Broken into Pieces”:

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