Sports in Pre-Modern and Early Modern Siam: Aggressive and Civilised Masculinities

Sports in Pre-Modern and Early Modern Siam: Aggressive and Civilised Masculinities Charn Panarut A thesis submitted in fulfilment of The requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology and Social Policy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Sydney 2018 Statement of Authorship This dissertation is the copyrighted work of the author, Charn Panarut, and the University of Sydney. This thesis has not been previously submitted for any degree or other objectives. I certify that this thesis contains no documents previously written or published by anyone except where due reference is referenced in the dissertation itself. i Abstract This thesis is a contribution to two bodies of scholarship: first, the historical understanding of the modernisation process in Siam, and in particular the role of sport in the gradual pacification of violent forms of behaviour; second, one of the central bodies of scholarship used to analyse sport sociologically, the work of Norbert Elias and Eric Dunning on sport and the civilising process. Previous studies of the emergence of a more civilised form of behaviour in modern Siam highlight the imitation of Western civilised conducts in political and sporting contexts, largely overlooking the continued role of violence in this change in Siamese behaviour from the pre- modern to modern periods. This thesis examines the historical evidence which shows that, from around the 1900s, Siamese elites engaged in deliberate projects to civilise prevalent non-elites’ aggressive conducts. This in turn has implications for the Eliasian understanding of sports and civilising process, which emphasises their unplanned development alongside political and economic changes in Europe, at the expense of grasping the deliberate interventions of the Siamese elites. To fill this gap, this research applies the concept of the “civilising offensive” to underline the planned process of civilisation. The thesis discusses how aggressive masculinity was expressed legitimately through war-like pastimes and warfare during the pre-modern age, and how this violent behaviour was transformed by the elites’ promotions of civilising plans and sports under contexts of colonisation and nation-state building processes. I examine how civilised self-images were produced from interactions between Siamese elites, non-elites and Westerners. The thesis makes use of autobiographies, government documents, etiquette books, newspapers, chronicles, travel writings and so forth, to explore first-hand accounts of behaviours, identities and values related to the presence of violence in sporting and political arenas. From the 1820s onwards, colonisation increased interdependencies between Westerners and the Siamese. Westerners used what they perceived to be their higher civilised standard as an excuse to interfere in Asia. In response to the Westerners’ perception of the Siamese as barbarous and the aggressive behaviour of the Siamese masses, Siamese elites promoted civilised identities through civilised sports and education, both of which also occurred as part of the Siamese nation-state building processes. In the 1900s, to avoid being shamed, the non- ii elites learned to temporarily curb aggressive masculinity and act in a civilised manner when interacting with elites and Westerners in sports fields. The civilising effect of interdependence between these actors showed that planned and unplanned processes of civilisation in Siam coexisted. iii Abbreviations 1. BR = The Bangkok Recorder 2. BT = The Bangkok Times 3. NAT = The National Archives of Thailand 4. OHS = Krom Ratchalekhathikan Ratchakan Thi 5-6, Mor. Ror. 5 Ror Lor-Khor Phor/3 [The Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary, Kings Rama V and VI, Mor. Ror. 5 Ror Lor-Khor Phor / 3] 5. RCA = The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya 6. TKP = Khamhaikan Khun Luang Wat Pradu Songtham Ekkasan Chak Holuang [The Testimony of Khun Luang Wat Pradu Songtham: The Document from the (Traditional) Royal Library] iv On Transcription The transcription of Thai words into Roman characters will follow the Royal Thai General System of Transcription. Nonetheless, some names of people, places, and institutions will not be changed to conform to the system. For example, I intend to use the original names of Prince Vajirañana, Prince Sithiporn Kridakara, Nidhi Eoseewong, Rahang and Suankularb School instead of changing them to Prince Wachirayan, Prince Sitthiphon Kritdakon, Nithi Iaosiwong, Rahaeng and Suankulap School. Preserving the original names can help avoid confusion when readers read this dissertation and conduct further research. v Preface and Acknowledgements This thesis is an application of a sociological concept developed by Norbert Elias and Eric Dunning called the civilising process to understand how male behaviour changed from the pre-modern to the early modern periods of Siam/Thailand. Specifically, the civilising process illuminates how and why men’s behaviour in particular the political and sporting contexts became less violent and more “civilised.” This thesis is a sociological analysis of the developments of the state, sports and masculine identities with regard to the use of violence in Siam from the fourteenth century to the 1900s. However, a specific historical development of sport and masculinity in Siam is different from Elias and Dunning’s analysis of sport and the civilising process in Western Europe (1986; 2000). Their emphasis on the emerging civilised behaviours and sports as unintentional outcomes of political and economic interdependencies fails to capture the reality of the Siamese elite's intentional plans to civilise the men’s aggressive behaviour through edicts, education and standardised sports. Between the 1820s and the 1900s, the colonial relationship between Siam, Britain and France engendered a pressure on the Siamese elite to deliberately adjust themselves and their people to the Western standard of civilisation. In order to shed light on the Siamese elite's intended campaigns, the concept of “civilising offensive” that considers how an established group creates and launches civilising plans to maintain its status quo under challenges from members of lower social strata and outsiders is also included in my analysis. Between the fourteenth century and 1939, foreigners had known and called the Ayutthaya, Thonburi and Rattanakosin (Bangkok) Kingdoms, which were situated in what is present-day central Thailand, as “Siam”.1 In 1939, the name of “Siam” was changed to “Thailand” by the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun).2 However, this research on the development of sports covers only the era of Rama V[r. 1868-1910], the first reign of the modern political regime and the initial era in which modern sports were widely promoted throughout society. Thus, in this thesis, “Siam” is a more appropriate term than “Thailand.” This thesis is in part a reflection of my personal interest in soccer and Thai history that I have had since childhood. The nationwide broadcasting of the June 1998 World Cup drew my 1 Hall, 1983, p. 222. 2 Sartraproong, 1998, p. 24; Kasetsiri, 2007, pp. 1-10. vi attention to football. As a result, I intensively participated in the game both as a player (at school) and a supporter (of Inter Milan) during my high-school years at Suankularb School in Bangkok. My personal attachment to Thai football emerged during the December 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. The Thai national football team achieved fourth place, which was the nation’s greatest success at the international level in one of the most popular games of the country. The setting of the competition, the joyous atmosphere shared among the Thais and the media’s constructed fantasies of the rise of the national football team to the world stage inspired me to think about the past and future of this sport in Thailand. Furthermore, as a third-generation descendant of Chinese immigrants, I have always been interested in the story of my first generation and the Thai society to where my ancestors migrated in the 1940s. Thai social history has been my interest since I was an undergraduate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Chulalongkorn University. In 2013, these personal interests prompted me to start exploring the origins of football in Thai society. The completion of this thesis could not have been possible without the enthusiastic support and expertise of Professor Robert van Krieken and Associate Professor Catriona Elder, my thesis supervisors. Debts of gratitude are also owed to Professor Mike Michael, Dr. David Bray, Dr. Allen George, Professor John Connell, Associate Professor Chris Lyttleton, Dr. Simon Creak, Dr. Patrick Jory, Associate Professor Tyrell Haberkorn, Dr. Katie Liston, Assistant Professor Villa Vilaithong, Professor Volker Grabowsky, Professor Jan van der Putten and Professor Maurizio Peleggi for providing invaluable comments on and suggestions for my thesis. I would like to thank Associate Professor Jamaree Chiangthong, Assistant Professor Wasan Payagaew and Associate Professor Wattana Sugunnasil for their great guidance and encouragement. I would like to express appreciation to Hilary Disch for providing mindful and critical proofreading. I am very grateful to Associate Professor Niti Pawakapan, Associate Professor Preecha Kuwinphan, Surakit Maikaew and Professor Robert Stone for giving me vital academic support over the years. My sincere thanks also to the staff from the Office of Educational Affairs in Canberra for their energetic

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