WORSHIPPING THE GREAT MODERNISER: KING CHULALONGKORN, PATRON SAINT OF THE THAI MIDDLE CLASS . By Irene Stengs . Singapore : National University of Singapore Press , 2009 . Pp . vii + 316 . $35.00 .
摘要
This new book gives a detailed and accessible account of one of the most discussed and striking phenomena in recent Thai history—the “cult” of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who reigned in Siam (which became Thailand in 1939) from 1868 to 1910. It provides not only details about the different rituals and paraphernalia (statues, posters, amulets, clocks, books, pamphlets, etc.) associated with the worship of the former king, but also information about the major figures in modern Thai who profit from the worship. Stengs conducted a number of important interviews, examined some of the rituals associated with this former regent first hand, and her writing is crisp. I particularly liked her section on the “Portrait of ‘The King Cooking a Meal’,” in which she describes one of the most famous photographs of the king, in which he is sitting on the veranda of Ruan Thon Palace in 1904 or 1905. He is shirtless, stirring the food inside his own simple wok. She connects the popularity of this candid photograph to the profession of cooking. Cooks throughout the country want to be associated with the king, and the photograph is found hanging in restaurants and on the covers of some well‐known Thai cookbooks. Indeed, the king's face is everywhere! These details illuminate some of Stengs's larger points, for instance, that the figure of this king who ruled Siam as it was being transformed from a kingdom to a modern nation state is so beloved by the Thai people because he is the “paramount mediator.” There are numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes in the book. Furthermore, there is little novel theoretical or methodological insight into the phenomena of the “cult” of King Chulalongkorn or into the very notion of “cults” (she does not nuance this term adequately either) in modern Thailand. However, it is an informative overview of this widespread phenomenon and will prove a good introduction for students of modern Thai politics, economics, and religion.
