Turbaned Northern Thai-ness: selective transnationalism, situational ethnicity and local cultural intimacy among Chiang Mai Punjabis

ABSTRACT

Chiang Mai is home to approximately 400 diasporic Punjabis, some of whom are sixth-generation residents of Thailand. While their transnational orientation, distinct sartorial choices and cultural practices might present them as outsiders to essential Thainess, Northern Thai Punjabis transgress the national image of Thainess and subjectively consider themselves to be Northern (Lanna) Thais. At the same time, these Thai citizens avail themselves of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status for privileged access to economic, cultural and educational resources in India. Based on 51 in-depth interviews and 17 focus group studies among resident Hindu, Sikh and Namdhari Sikh communities in Northern Thailand, this research explores family histories, selective transnationalism, and regional Lanna identities among these overseas Punjabis. As this article will argue, while Punjabi Thais maintain their networks and cultural connections with an historic ancestral homeland, they also cultivate forms of local cultural intimacy in ways which leapfrog the linguistic and cultural hegemony of Thai national identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnationalism
• situated ethnicity
• citizenship
• Punjabi Thais
• localism
• Chiang Mai

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by Chiang Mai University. We would like to express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for constructive comments that greatly helped to improve an earlier version of this article. A portion of this research paper was presented at the EuroSEAS Conference 2019 in Berlin, Germany in September, 2019; we wish to acknowledge the generous support of Chiang Mai University to attend this conference. Finally, we are very grateful to all of Punjabi Thais for sharing their stories and experiences in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Interview with Charat on 26 January 2019.

2. Punjabi Thais is defined as descendant of Punjabi diaspora who were born in Thailand, while Punjabi refers to those born Punjab and migrated to Thailand. Punjabi Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus refers to Sikhs and Hindus who migrated from Punjabi.

3. Interview with Suchit on 3 November 2020.

4. Namdhari Sikh is one sect of Sikh religion, it was established by Baba Ram Singh in 1857. Namdharis reject the death of the tenth Guru, and continue the line of human Gurus, but they still emphasize on the Khalsa form as Sikh. Namdhari’s movement has contributed to Indian independence, their initiatives such as non-corporative are considered as the resistance against British colonialism (Takhar 2014, 354).

5. Interview Waran on 17 March 2021.

6. Interview Mitt on 26 February 2019.

7. Interview Aran on 24 May 2019.

8. According to the interviews, the majority of Punjabi men were married prior to migration. Their wives were left behind at first, and some later migrated to Chiang Mai to join their relatives. Approximately one fourth of Punjabi men married Northern Thai women.

9. Interview Kanya on 3 November 2020.

10. Interview Mitt on 15 May 2019.

11. Interview Aran on 24 May 2019.

12. Interview with Jinny on 19 Feb 2019.

13. Information from Consulate of India in Chiang Mai.

14. Interview Janit on 26 Feb 19.

15. Interview Pakorn on 19 February 2020.

16. Chiang Mai Punjabis refers to Punjabi Thais who were born in Chiang Mai.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Chiang Mai University [06122018]