WATER MARGINS: FLOWS, FIXATIONS, AND FLUCTUATIONS OF SPACE, ETHNICITY, AND COMMUNITY IN KUDIJIN

Abstract

Settled along the west bank of the Chao Phraya river in the Thonburi area of Bangkok, Thailand, is a small community that has changed in form and composition since the Ayutthaya period (1351 – 1767). Known as the Kudijin community, the story of the community is one that is conditioned by flows, fixations, and fluctuations along the Chao Phraya river at different points of time in history. In this thesis, I argue that the constitution of the ‘space’ of Kudijin is shaped by different factors, where during its early history, the ‘space’ of Kudijin was dictated by flows along the Chao Phraya from the Ayutthaya Period to the early Rattanakosin Period (1782 – 1910). Subsequently, ‘space’ was defined in terms of the social life that emerges as daily life is focal point of daily life shifts from the Chao Phraya river to the Santa Cruz Church during the beginnings of the late Rattanakosin period (1910 – Present). At present, ‘space’ is shaped and contested by circulating objects and mobile subjects moving into and out of Kudijin on a daily basis. I then argue that all these conceptions of ‘space’ contributes to the never-ending process of community formation in Kudijin by constantly reshaping Kudijin’s spatial boundaries and ethnic margins.