Ethinc chinese women in Thai novels : the negotiation of identity, gender and generational transitions

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the interaction between Chinese and Thai cultures in contemporary Thailand. It is also a part of the study of the Chinese Diaspora. The focus is on a specific angle, namely, that of gender, female gender, and how the specific issues of women’s status and role according to Chinese tradition versus the norms of modern and Thai society, form an important part of the identity construction process of these women. The main objective of this dissertation is to examine novels produced by Chinese-Thais from the late 1960s to the present, focusing on novels that relate to gender. I then proceed to analyze how the identity of Chinese-Thai women is negotiated between the ethnic Chinese heritage and the adopted Thai way of life, including new ideas on female status. Finally, we analyze the social construction and reconstruction of the multi-faceted identity of Chinese-Thai women through the negotiation and generational transitions as reflected in Thai novels. The methodology I used is qualitative textual analysis. I focused on five novels, spanning the period of 1969 to 2008, a period that has seen large changes in the status of Chinese-Thais, and the way they are treated by the state. An important criterion in the selection has been exposure, through the written novels themselves and through renditions in popular television series. The novels are 1) Letter from Thailand by Botan of 1969, 2) Being with Gong by Yok Burapha of 1976, 3) Through the Scales of the Dragon by Prapason Sewikul of 1989, 4) The Last Petal of the Peony by Kantima of 2007, and 5) A Walk through Spring by Yuvadee Tonsakulrungruang of 2007. The findings of the dissertation are that Chinese-Thai women have been struggling, for decades, to change their role and status in the Chinese-Thai family and community. As assimilation ceases to be a focal point, and a large Chinese-Thai middle class is formed, this struggle turns into an inner community struggle to reconstruct a new Chinese-Thai identity, one which has no bias against women. These negotiations over the status of women take numerous forms of action in the novels I studied. One common type which is worthy to point out is that of raising the status of women, especially daughters’, at the expenses of that of sons. In such cases, the sons are depicted as either being failures or as being ungrateful towards their fathers, while the daughters represent success and gratitude.