New mosaics on old walls: Intimacy and architecture along the Malaysian-Thai frontier

Abstract

The Thais of Kelantan, Malaysia are a small community living along an international border. Politically Malaysian, the Buddhist community has for a long time come under the cultural sway of neighboring Thailand. In this paper, I discuss how Michael Herzfeld's (1997) notion of cultural intimacy is a useful tool in discussing how religious architecture forms an important marker of personhood for Kelantanese Thai villagers. I elaborate upon Herzfeld's original thesis by seeking out cultural intimacy not in the gaps of national embarrassments but in the important and powerful feelings of belonging along the peripheries of two nation-states. © 2010 by the Institute for Ethnographic.