Ethnicities of Thailand: Thai Identity

I was born and raised in the United States, a place that is frequently referred to as a “melting pot,” due to the number and variety of immigrants that have moved there over the centuries. The diversity of the people of my home country is definitely something that I miss.

However, saying that belies the diversity of the people of Thailand, which is ignored and passively covered up by the dominant and “official” history of the country. The Thai identity is one that has been cobbled together from various peoples that have had an influence on the Siamese kingdoms, though has certainly been dominated by the Tai peoples (not the same as Thai).

Thailand: Never Colonized?

Thailand likes to tout the fact that it is the only nation in Southeast Asia to never have been colonized, especially when talking about the Thai identity. However this ignores the influence of strong economic and trade ties with the traditional colonial powers and the value of a Western education from the turn of the century to the mid-century. The nationalistic pride in being an independent state is heavily tied to the concept of a Thai identity, which has been a pressure, both de facto and de jure, on other ethnic groups to assimilate.

History of Ethnic Groups in South East Asia

As James C. Scott detailed in his book The Art of Not Being Governed: An anarchist history of upland Southeast Asia, the kingdoms of Southeast Asia were continually expanding and contracting in geographical area and in the number of people. However, his scholarship is at odds with the dominant narrative, which has no real research to back it up.

The history, as written by the victors, says that the hill tribes are the “living ancestors” of the Thai people, implying that the civilized nation-state of the lowlands drew out and attracted the primitive hill peoples. In fact, Scott’s research shows that most hill tribes were joined and strengthened by people who were fleeing the kingdoms and their taxes or potential enslavement.

The Ethnic Diversity of Thailand

Looking at this history, it begins to make more sense that in actuality, the Thai ethnicity makes up only about 36 percent of the population. The Thai ethnicity comes mainly from the Tai peoples, who migrated from the area that is now northern Vietnam and during the Sukhothai period fended off the Khmer empire and establish the Thai writing system.

Behind that is the Thai-Lao ethnicity making up 32 percent, Thai-Chinese with 12 percent, Lanna-Thai  and Pak-Thai accounting for 8 percent each, Malay-speaking Muslims with 3 percent and Khmer accounting for 2 percent. The remaining 1 percent is a mix of people of Korean or Urdu descent and hill peoples as well as people referred to as “sea-gypsies” and aboriginal Malays. All told, there are around 70 to 80 different ethic groups in Thailand.

Thai Identity

The idea of a “Thai identity” wasn’t introduced until the mid 20th century, by the military dictator Phibun. “Thai” means free and so again, the emphasis on having never been colonized has been built into the word with which the people here identify themselves.  

The focus and idea of a national identity is pretty similar to a lot of different countries policies and propaganda at the time. Throughout the Cold War, fear and rejection of “others” and celebrating and emphasizing what makes each nationality was certainly practiced by a number of different countries, the United States included.

The idea of there being a singular “Thai identity,” while perhaps not pushed as hard as it was in the past, still has ripples through today. It frames the understanding of Americans by Thai people, aided by popular media, who visualize Americans as being white with blond hair and some incredulity is expressed regarding nationality when Peace Corps volunteers are Black or of Asian descent – surely they are African or Korean and not Americans. When I ask about customs and superstitions, it is either framed in a way that it accounts for all Thai people or is ascribed to a minority group. “Thai people do…”

It all makes me appreciate the complicated and complexities of the ethnic make-up of the United States.