Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

Abstract Siya Uthai


Community and Development in a Globalizing World: Rights of Indigenous People on Land Use in Thailand

After the end of cold war, the global capitalism influences and affects national economies that could no longer stand alone as an independent system of wealth creation. Regarding a development model which relevant to the concept of ‘modernization’ to create wealth of nation and capacities of economic competition on a global level, land and natural resources become a top-ranked of development dilemma between local communities and state power in Thailand. The issue on land use turns into a considerable question together with a proposal of community land deeds that allocated the collective rights of locals in their communities to manage their own lands. Since political dilemmas and conflicts in Thailand after the 2006 coup, many Thai scholars proposed that government for land reform by means of community-based management. The issue poses challenges to the direction of national development policy within a context of modernity.

The research aims to clarify:  “How does global capitalism within the context of land use development, provokes the local community participation in new social movements as a response to globalization?” To find out development discourse, symbolic meaning, social interactions and local responses that focus on land use, the research will conduct at both the policy level and the community level. The cognitive sociology and discourse theories are applying to classify and interpret aspects of social life.