Glocalization of bronze drums in Southeast Asia: the case of bronze drums in state ceremonies of Thailand

Abstract

The Bronze Drum is a living specimen of Southeast Asian culture and a testimony to the development of Southeast Asian societies for more than 2,000 years. The Bronze Drum has been inherited dynamically hitherto, and the Thai state ceremonies still adopt it. However, current scholarship on Bronze Drums is confined chiefly to static studies, which caused the omission of the essence of glocalization. This thesis adopts the theory of glocalization, namely that the Bronze Drum is the result of the interpenetration of the global and the local, resulting in unique outcomes in a specific geographic location, and then applies an interdisciplinary research methodology that draws on multiple lenses from Western, Chinese, and Thai sources. In addition to this, the theoretical framework of this thesis argues for the Southeast Asianness of the Bronze Drum and the cultural identity of Yunnan and Guangxi as one with Southeast Asia at the civilizational dimension. This study devotes to answering the question: how are the Bronze Drums used in state ceremonies of Thailand? Based on an analysis of the dynamic glocalization of the Ayutthaya dynasty and the Rattanakosin dynasty, this study finds that the bronze drum is used as a musical instrument in Thai state ceremonies, and is a symbol of fertility and represents one of the cornerstones of Thai society. Eventually, while answering the question, there is a theoretical vista for glocalization in broader Southeast Asian Studies.