The Construction of Community Identity for OTOP Nawatwithi A Case Study of Ban Chiang Song, Mueang Ling Sub-district, Chomphra District, Surin Province

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the construction of community identity to serve the OTOP Nawatwithi; this case study was conducted in the Chiang Song village located in Mueang Ling sub-district of Chomphra district in Surin province. This study employed participant and non-participant observations in order to observe a variety of activities used for welcoming visitors. In this study, an in-depth interview was also incorporated to elicit the information from community leaders: a village headman, an assistant village headman, committees of the OTOP Nawatwithi (Inno-life tourism community) of the Chiang Song village, and villagers in the community. Regarding the data analysis, this case study used a framework, a folklore theory, and a tourism theory to analyze the obtained data via content analysis.

            According to the results, it is found that Chiang Song community members pull together a spectrum of their identities to serve tourism activities, which are regarded as their selling points and creating memorable impressions to visitors. A wide range of their identities as seen in the study is identities of individual ethic groups within the community, which cooperatively construct to be the shared identity as follows. 1) Food identity (Cambodian and Laotian styles): community members present their food identity to visitors during the welcoming period. This food identity covers savory foods and desserts, including the Chee river fish-based food, seasonal vegetables, and sweets available only on special occasions. 2) Residence identity: old houses decorated in the traditional Chinese and Kui styles have been well maintained and then blend with the tourism activities under the name of three centuries of old  Phu Chiang Song community. In this regard, houses of the Chinese function to present the history of the Chinese immigrants in Chiang Song, and they also display artifacts and utensils. Houses of the Kui people are open to disseminate the knowledge to visitors who are interested in learning the details of elephants, including capturing equipment of wild elephants in the past. 3) Costume identity: For Kui people, when they open their houses to give a warm welcome to visitors, the costume identity that the community presents belongs to those costumes of the Kui ethic group. That is to say, they dress with a black silk, which is dyed with ebony fruits together with a manual sewing. This greatly show the uniqueness of the Kuy people’s clothing, so called Saw. Additionally, this reflects the way of life through the patterns of tie-dye silk as portrayed in the elephant pattern. 4) Language identity: a great variety of language used within the one community is seen. In addition to the official Thai language usually spoken to visitors, the Khmer (Cambodian) language or the Kui language is also used when visitors want to know the actual pronunciations of the items or messages. 5) Identities in traditions, ceremonies, and beliefs: there are the beliefs of various ethnic groups which have been strongly existed in the community: beliefs in elephants and the Kui people’s elephant beliefs. As also seen in a San-Don-Ta tradition, it is an ancestor worship ritual of the Khmer (Cambodian) and an oblation of the Chiang Song deity which is a ceremony to worship the ancestry spirits of the community. Throughout these ceremonies and activities, they leave visitors with some distinct impressions as “The Chiang Song village is a community that is rich in a cultural diversity. As mentioned, it is not only the conservation, but also the great benefits it generates in terms of tourism. It further strengthens the community economy and creates the collective spirits and the unity of the community members.