Open AccessLikay Wik in Bangkok and Their “Imagining Community”
Author(s) -
Benjaporn Deekhuntod
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
manusya
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.104
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 2665-9077
pISSN - 0859-9920
DOI - 10.1163/26659077-01302001
Subject(s) - drama , space (punctuation) , kinship , sociology , front (military) , social space , gender studies , living space , media studies , aesthetics , visual arts , geography , anthropology , art , computer science , demography , residence , meteorology , operating system
This article is a study of Likay Wik, a traditional Thai theatrical drama examined through stage performances and social activities that are shared commonly by Likay performers and the groups of regular audiences. The study aims at acquiring a comprehensive insight into the contemporary life of people in Bangkok society between 2006 and 2007. The conceptual framework is based on Tanabe’s “imagining community” (Tanabe 2008). The findings reveal a type of community that belongs to lower class people and their main method of creating a social network to open space for themselves in city living. There is fictive kinship creation which has emerged within 3 types of social space: 1) the interaction space in the daily life of the performers and the audience, 2) the performance space at the front of stage, and 3) the ritual space.