Cultural Crisis and Social Memory: Modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos (Anthropology of Asia)

Remembering is socially constructed through a range of social activities, ranging from rituals to political events. The social activities presented here are in the context of “crisis of modernity” experiences related to processes such as secularization, integration into the modern nation-state and global economy, and the expansion of the mass media. These processes are linked to the rapid transformation of social and cultural reality, to an increasing sense of insecurity and anxiety in the present and to crises of identity. The book makes a significant theoretical contribution to the study of social memory. It will be of considerable value to scholars interested in the ways people of Thailand and Laos are responding to the rapid and radical changes brought about by modernity.