Date： February 7, 2016 (Tuesday) 15:30-17:30
Venue： CSEAS (Center for Southeast Asian Studies), Kyoto University, Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, 201 (Tonan-tei)

Program：
15:30－15:35
Introduction

15:35－16:35
“Muslimization and Cultural Politics of Islam Propagation among Hmong/Akha Youth in Northern Thailand”
by Samak Kosem (Chiang Mai University)

16:35-16:50
Discussant: Liulan Wang (Doshisha University)

16:50-17:30
Open Discussion

Abstract：
Muslimization and Cultural Politics of Islam Propagation among Hmong/Akha Youth in Northern Thailand

This research studies the propagation of Islam through the “Dawah”, Muslim missionary and the process of Muslimization among the hill tribe youth in Chiang Rai province of northern Thailand. This work aims to find out which strategy of cultural politics that has been utilized by the Dawah to propagate Islam, and how the marginalized ethnicity contributes to such religious conversion. The research also emphasizes how the hill tribe youth make use of their own ethnic identity in order to respond to and negotiate with these propagation strategies. The Muslim identity in this area reflects the complex interaction between the Dawah’s teachings and the hill tribes’ ethnic identity within the context of the Thai state’s attempt to marginalize the hill tribes in highland as well as the transnational context of Islamic fundamentalism. The Dawah’s success in accessing the various hill tribe groups stems from the fact that these groups have not only become a vulnerable point from the Thai state’s perspective, but they also been marginalized by the state’s development process have been well. The Muslimization process can be seen in rules and disciplines which govern the body of the hill tribe youth as for the spiritual side of the Muslimization process. In this process, some face internal conflicts between different identities. These include the Muslim identity that their personally defines themselves, the Muslim identity that is expected from them and the mainstream representation of Muslims. The result can be regarded as an awkward cultural patchwork or a final peaceful subjectivation of these youth.

*Samak Kosem is a researcher at the Center for ASEAN Studies, Chiang Mai University, and a guest lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, Prince of Songkla University (Pattani campus). His research experience focuses on the Thai-Myanmar border and the role of ethnicity and religion, with a particular focus on Muslim and Karen migrants to understand the causes and potential ways of addressing social and political conflict involving migrants from Myanmar and ethnic and religious minority groups in northern Thailand.

Organizer: CSEAS, Kyoto University

Co-Organizer: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, “Seeking a New Paradigm in the Study of Religions in Mainland Southeast Asia”(Principal investigator: Kataoka Tatsuki)

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Zomia Study Group contacts: Koichi Fujita,　Mio Horie, Hisashi Shimojo (Center for Southeast Asia Studies, Kyoto University)