Religious Piety and Religious Practice of Female Sex Workers in Chiang Mai
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper bases on an ethnographic research on religious piety and practice of female sex workers in Chiang Mai. It aims to explore an interaction between religious great tradition (Buddhism) and little tradition (folk and mystical practices and animism) through the belief, practices and religious experience of the female sex workers who work in Chiangmai. The previous studies offered that the relationship between great and little tradition is either move upward or downward. That is, the great tradition may influence on or be influenced by the little tradition, as we shall see in Sanskritization in India. However, this research on religious piety of 29 sex workers reflects the different interaction between the great and the little tradition. In this context, the little tradition, mystical practices, play a great role in the life and career of the sex workers. Moreover, they use vernacular practices to build up their merit and auspiciousness, believing that the merit and great auspiciousness will implicitly and explicitly improve their financial and social situation. Accordingly, this research argues that in Thai context the little tradition (animism) takes a greater role in a person religious piety than the great tradition (Buddhism), especially among people who immigrated to live in urban area. Nevertheless, animism and magic practice do not marginalize or devalue Buddhism. The relationship between the two is not in the challenging way but supportive. That is, magic practice makes Buddhism attractive, and Buddhism makes magic practice trustworthy. Henceforth, this paper argues that the boundary between great and little tradition is always fluid and unclear. In addition, the great tradition is not always a dominated tradition. As we shall see in this research, the great tradition is often made subordinated and has less influence on people life especially in modern society.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Cook, J. (2010). Meditation in Modern Buddhism: renunciation and chnage in Thai monastic life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dumont, L. (1980). Homo Hierarchicus: the caste system and its implications. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Eoseewong, N. (2019, November 15-21). Bhut Brahm Phi roe Phi Brahm Bhut. Matichon Sudsapda.
Falk, M. L. (2007). Making Fields of Merit Buddhist Female Ascetics and Gendered Orders in Thailand. Copenhagen: NIAS.
Kabilsingh, C. (1991). Thai Women in Buddhism. Berkeley: Parallax.
Keyes, C. (1984). Mother or Mistress but Never a Monk: Buddhist notions of female gender in rural Thailand. American Ethnologist, 11(2), 223-41.
KhinThitsa. (1983). Nuns, Mediums and Prostitutes in Chiengmai: A study of some Marginal Categories of Women. Women Development in Southeast Asia, 4-45.
KhinThitsa. (1990). Providence and Prostitution: Image and Reality for Women in Buddhist Thailand. In Women and Society. London: Change International Reports.
Kidpromma, A. (2020). Purity in Re-Making:Sanskritisation of the Orientalists' Caste among Low Caste Villagers in West Bengal, India. Panidhana:Journal of Philosophy and Religion, 16(1), 67-93.
Kidpromma, A. (2022). Buddhist Modernism and the piety of female Sex Workers in Northern Thailand. Religion, 13(4), 350.
Kirsch, T. (1960). Buddhism, Sex-Roles and the Thai Economy.
Kirsch, T. (1975). Economy, Polity, and Religion in Thailand. Change and persistence in Thai society, 172.
Kitiarsa, P. (2012). Mediums, Monks, and Amulets: Thai Popular Buddhism Today. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Marriott, M. (1955). Village in India:studies in the little community. In A. R. Beals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McDaneil, J. T. (2011). The lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk:practicing Buddhism in modern Thailand. Columbia: Columbia University Press.
McMahan, D. L. (2008). The Making of Buddhist Modernism. New York: Oxford University Press.
McMahan, D. L. (2012). Buddhist Modernism. In D. L. McMahan, Buddhism in the Modern World (pp. 159-176). New York: Routledge.
Morris, R. (2000). In the Place of Origins: Modernity and its Mediums in Northern Thailand. Durham & London: Duke University Press.
Ortner, S. B. (1972). Is Female to Male as Nature to Culture? Feminist Studies, 1(2), 5-31.
Peach, L. J. (2000). Human Rights, Religion, and (SexualX Slavery. Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics, 65-87.
Peach, L. J. (2005). 'Sex Slaves' or 'Sex Workers'? Cross-Cultural and Comparative Religious Perspectives on Sexuality, Subjectivity, and Moral Identity in Anti-Sex Trafficking Discourse. Cultural and Religion, 6(1), 107-34.
Redfield, R. (1967). The Litte Community and Peasant Society and Culture. . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sangren, S. (1984). Great Tradition and Little Traditions Reconsidered: The Question of Cultural Integration in China. Journal of Chinese Studies, 1(1), 1-24.
Schedneck, B. (2014). Meditation for Tourists in Thailand: Commodifying a Universal and National Symbol. Journal of Contemporary Religion , 439-56.
Sorajjakool, S., & Benitez, A. (2015). The Role of Religion among Sex Workers in Thailand. Religions, 6(4), 1263-76.
Srinivas, M. (1952). Religion and society among the Coorgs of South India. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Tambiah, S. J. (1970). Buddhism and Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tanabe, S. (1991). Spirits, Power and the Discourse of Female Gender: The Phi Meng Cult of Northern Thailand. Thai constructions of knowledge, 183-212.
Taweesit, S. (2007). Pespawa Suksa nai ngarn manussayawittaya. Journal of Social Sciences, 19(1), 311-57.
Taylor, J. (2008). Buddhism and Postmodern Imaginings in Thailand:the regiosity of urban space. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Company.
Winichakul, T. (1995). Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of the Nation. Chiangmai: Silkworm Books.
Wonglakorn, J. (2007). Watakarm boon nai wannakarm isan. The Journal of Human Sciences, 17(1).