Beyond Nostalgia: The Politics of Loss in Contemporary Short Stories of Isan Writers
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Abstract
This article examines short stories written by authors from Northeast Thailand (also known as Isan) published in the 2010s. They include works of Manote Phromsing, Chatchawan Khotsongkhram, and Phu Kradat, which share a commitment to revisit and revise Isan histories. Focusing on their deliberate departure from a preoccupation with the quest for regional cultural identity in writings about Isan in previous decades, this article discusses the political significance of their short stories in terms of affect and emotion. As these authors shift their attention from regionalism and its accompanied sentiment of nostalgia, the politics of loss in their works points toward a melancholic attachment to wounded histories of the region rather than a nostalgic longing for the idealized past. References to the premodern Lao kingdom of Lan Xang and its literary heritage significantly appear in the short stories to interrogate the construction of Isan under Siamese rule as well as to evocatively connect the violent histories of forced migration and cultural assimilation with recent issues of political oppression and ethnic minoritization. Through the invocation of melancholia, contemporary Isan writers propose a mournful relationship with the past that suggests not a form of immobility and powerlessness, but a critical reflection on loss and its haunting effects in the present.
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