History beyond race, ultra-nationalism

The hall fell silent as the 87-year-old anthropologist began to speak. His voice was weak, punctuated by pauses to catch his breath, yet every word carried the weight of decades of scholarship.

- Sanitsuda Ekachai

Srisakra Vallibhotama had devoted his life to studying the lands and peoples of what is now Thailand, and he was determined to set the record straight.

“The textbook Thai history is deeply flawed,” he said, his voice steady despite his frailty. “It needs to change”

For generations, official narratives have narrowed Thai history to past kings, dynasties, and wars. They present Thailand as a land of one race — the “Thai” — said to have migrated from the Altai Mountains in China, founded Sukhothai as the first Thai kingdom, and triumphed over others.

“This is false,’ he said flatly. “It creates the illusion of a pure Thai race, which doesn’t exist. It bypasses the cultural and ethnic diversity of the land. And it makes local histories invisible.”

That myth, promoted under Field Marshal Plaek Pibunsongkram’s fascist regime along Hitler's racial schemes, still poisons the present. It fuels ultra-nationalism, oppresses other ethnic groups, deepens divisions, and inflames the Thai-Cambodian conflict.

“We need a new way of looking at our history,’ Mr Srisakra stressed.

Instead of dynasties and wars, he urged us to read Thai history and understand past developments through geography and trade routes that shaped natural wealth, settlement, and economic prosperity.

His rare public talk on Ayutthaya, at the recent launch of his new book The Origin of Siam, edited by Walailak Songsiri of the Sit Srisakra Publishing House, was also a chance to dismantle the myths that distort how Thais see themselves.

“To understand Ayutthaya, we need to look at what came before,’ he began.

Archaeology shows that people had settled and farmed in the Chao Phraya basin since prehistoric times. The pre-Sukhothai world was also dynamic, shaped by shifting centres of power and cultural exchange.