From Sipsongpanna to Chiang Kham: The Reconstruction of Lue Identity in Contemporary Thailand

ABSTRACT A new Tai Lue identity is produced when Tai Lue people in Chiang Kham District, Thailand involve in local cultural revival and economic development. This new identity is a Thai-Tai Lue identity: “Lue Muang Thai”, as they call themselves, and is constructed based on their situations in and expectations of contemporary Thailand. Sipsongpanna, as an important cultural symbol of Lue, still plays an important role in constructing the new Lue identity, but Chiang Kham Tai Lue elites clearly know differences between Lue Sipsongpanna and Lue Muang Thai. For ordinary Chiang Kham Tai Lue, their Lue identity comes from the Lue villages in Thailand without any reference to Sipsongpanna. Lue identity is a strategy for them to gain more resources and capital. This is why Lue identity has been strongly performed in public spaces, while it is hard to find any performances of “Lue” identity in their family life. The “Lue Chiang Kham” identity emerges as one product in the process of constructing a new Tai Lue identity. Keywords: Thai-Tai Lue identity; Lue Muang Thai; Localized Lue identity; Lue Chiang Kham