Knowledge of Cultural Past in Thai Museums

Abstract

This article proposes that Thai museums exhibiting the ancient cultures of ethnic groups consist of five types. Each of them poses dialectical relationships to earlier museums by selecting the knowledge package and ways of exhibition similar to the older one if it is in agreement, and by changing the knowledge package and/or ways of exhibition if it is in disagreement. This can be done in the following ways: 1. using only historical and archaeological knowledge or compound with local folk wisdom through community people’s perceptions or by converting it into academic data, including the fact that it is not necessary to present the basis of localities and/or to link the local to the Thai state 2. presenting “Thainess” or the essence of “being Thai” in the past through the ways of life of the ruling class or commoners, especially rural life, and focusing on those which are profitable 3. selecting methods of exhibition for visitors to learn by themselves, or by complete knowledge packages which are easy to understand and stimulate their enjoyment.