Traditionally, practices of domestic sanctification
in Thailand (i.e.
rituals of housebuilding and domestic remedies)
employed the
house as a device to prevent ill fortune, to promote
health and
prosperity, and to repair breaches in the system of
defence.
Modernised Thais associate these traditional
practices with an
outlook, which is superstitious and irreconcilable
with that of urban
modernity. Nevertheless, Thais are struggling to
overcome their fear
and these practices now reappear in urban apartments
and houses
in Bangkok. The book aims to document and interpret this
reappearance of the traditional practices of domestic
sanctification
in contemporary Thai home. The evidences show that the
modernised Thais are reusing and reinventing some of the
techniques of the traditional practices as a solution
for their anxiety,
while at the same time, the excessiveness of the
practices has
turned the familiar space of home into a profoundly
ambivalent
sphere.
in Thailand (i.e.
rituals of housebuilding and domestic remedies)
employed the
house as a device to prevent ill fortune, to promote
health and
prosperity, and to repair breaches in the system of
defence.
Modernised Thais associate these traditional
practices with an
outlook, which is superstitious and irreconcilable
with that of urban
modernity. Nevertheless, Thais are struggling to
overcome their fear
and these practices now reappear in urban apartments
and houses
in Bangkok. The book aims to document and interpret this
reappearance of the traditional practices of domestic
sanctification
in contemporary Thai home. The evidences show that the
modernised Thais are reusing and reinventing some of the
techniques of the traditional practices as a solution
for their anxiety,
while at the same time, the excessiveness of the
practices has
turned the familiar space of home into a profoundly
ambivalent
sphere.