Patrescence in Southern Thailand: cosmological and social dimensions of fatherhood among the Malay-Muslims

Abstract

This paper examines fatherhood among the Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand (representing a minority at the national level, but constituting the majority population in the region). Traditional practices related to birth and the postpartum period are upheld as a marker of ethnic and religious identity by such groups. Building on the concept of patrescence as ‘becoming a father’, proposed by Dana Raphael, the data presented show how the process of assuming fatherhood develops during pregnancy and continues after birth through a series of ritual practices in which a man contributes to female postpartum practices. The medicalisation of birth in synergy with recent literalist interpretations of Islam has impacted on these practices, making it difficult to comply with the ritual burial of the afterbirth, which constitutes the cosmological and physical anchoring of individual and ethnic identity to the soil.

Cet article examine la paternité chez les Malais musulmans du Sud de la Thaïlande (représentant une minorité au plan national, mais constituant une population majoritaire dans la région). Les pratiques traditionnelles autour de la naissance et du postpartum sont conservées en tant que marqueurs d'identités ethnique et religieuse dans cette population. À partir du concept de «patrescence», correspondant à la période où l'on «devient un père», et proposé par Raphaël (1975: 70), les données présentées montrent comment le processus d'acceptation de la paternité se met en place au cours de la grossesse et se poursuit après la naissance, avec une série de pratiques rituelles à travers lesquelles l'homme contribue à celles de la femme, dans le postpartum. En synergie avec les interprétations littéralistes de l'islam, la médicalisation de la naissance a eu un impact sur ces pratiques. Cet impact n'a pas facilité l'observance du rituel de l'enterrement du placenta qui symbolise l'ancrage cosmologique et physique des identités ethnique et religieuse dans le sol.

En este artículo analizamos el significado de paternidad entre los musulmanes malayos del sur de Tailandia (representando una minoría a nivel nacional pero que constituyen la mayoría de la población en la región). Estos grupos conservan las prácticas tradicionales relacionadas con el nacimiento y el periodo posparto como una marca de identidad étnica y religiosa. Basado en el concepto de patrescencia como el significado de ‘convertirse en padre’ propuesto por Raphael (1975: 70), los datos presentados muestran cómo el proceso de asumir la paternidad se desarrolla durante el embarazo y continúa tras el nacimiento a través de una serie de prácticas rituales en las que un hombre contribuye a las prácticas de posparto de la mujer. La medicalización del nacimiento en sinergia con las recientes interpretaciones literalistas del Islam han repercutido en estas prácticas de modo que es difícil cumplir con el enterramiento ritual de la placenta que constituye el nexo de unión cosmológico y físico de la identidad individual y étnica con la tierra.

Keywords:

• patrescence
• Thailand
• Malay-Muslims
• traditional birth customs
• identity

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the people of Satun who shared their experiences and knowledge with me. Thanks to Ing-Britt Trankell and Jan Ovesen of Uppsala University, for their continuous support and example, to Pinit Ratanakul at the College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University. Generous funding for fieldwork was provided by The Donner Institute (Åbo Academy, Finland) and the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, and is kindly acknowledged. I am grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

^1. Among the Tai Yong in northern Thailand, before the first breastfeeding a few grains of rice are placed in the child's mouth to define the newborn as a human being (Trankell 1995, 168).

^2. The Malay term salai indicating ‘lying by the fire’, is the same used to indicate the process of exsiccation (and therefore preservation) of the fish under the sun.

^3. Coastal villages may have difficult access to wood.

^4. On the Malaysian Langkawi Island, off the Satun coast, the placenta is instead considered the younger sibling (Carsten 1991, 428).

^5. Others write that it was considered forbidden to throw away the placenta (Anuman Rajadhon 1961, 132).

^6. These days, a plastic bag is often used to transport the placenta from the hospital, but several people opposed this use, since the fluids would be retained, jeopardising the child's health.