The Representations of Hill Tribe women as Perceived in Contemporary Thai Literary Works of B.C. 1955-2016

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the representations of hill tribe women as perceived in contemporary Thai literary works of B.C. 1955-2016. The results of the research showed that the writers had depicted the representations of hill tribe women in 4 types: 1) being sexual objects by presenting the hill tribe women to supports the carnality of men under the male social-cultural structure, 2) being housewives by presenting the hill tribe women in the role of wives and motherhood, 3) being intelligent people by presenting the hill tribe women as those who had a broad knowledge of medicinal plants, and 4) being labor workers by presenting the hill tribe women as labor workers in a patriarchy. The representation of hill tribe women as perceived in contemporary Thai literary works was created on the basis of an unequal power relationship between genders causing the hill tribe women to be inferior to men in society, politics, and culture