Sovereign Necropolis

Trais Pearson

Description

By the 1890s, Siam (Thailand) was the last holdout against European imperialism in Southeast Asia. But the kingdom's exceptional status came with a substantial caveat: Bangkok, its bustling capital, was a port city that was subject to many of the same legal and fiscal constraints as other colonial treaty ports. Sovereign Necropolis offers new insight into turn-of-the-century Thai history by disinterring the forgotten stories of those who died "unnatural deaths" during this period and the work of the Siamese state to assert their rights in a pluralistic legal arena.Based on a neglected cache of inquest files compiled by the Siamese Ministry of the Capital, official correspondence, and newspaper accounts, Trais Pearson documents the piecemeal introduction of new forms of legal and medical concern for the dead. He reveals that the investigation of unnatural death demanded testimony from diverse strata of society: from the unlettered masses to the king himself. These cases raised questions about how to handle the dead-were they spirits to be placated or legal subjects whose deaths demanded compensation?-as well as questions about jurisdiction, rights, and liability.Exhuming the history of imperial politics, transnational commerce, technology, and expertise, Sovereign Necropolis demonstrates how the state's response to global flows transformed the nature of legal subjectivity and politics in lasting ways. A compelling exploration of the troubling lives of the dead in a cosmopolitan treaty port, the book is a notable contribution to the growing corpus of studies in science, law, and society in the non-Western world.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Tailandia
• Nursing
• Thailand
• Thaïlande

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501740176
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

SOVEREïGN NECROPOLïS

SOVEREïGN NECROPOLïS

T HE POL I T I CS OF DE AT H I N SE MI  COLONI AL SI AM

Tr a i s P e a r s o n

CORNELL UNïVERSïTY PRESS Ithaca and London

Copyrîght © 2020 by Corne Unîversîty

A rîghts reserved. Except or brîe quotatîons în a revîew, thîs book, or parts thereo, must not be reproduced în any orm wîthout permîssîon în wrîtîng rom the pubîsher. For înormatîon, address Corne Unîversîty Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, ïthaca, New York 14850. Vîsît our websîte at cornepress.corne.edu.

Fîrst pubîshed 2020 by Corne Unîversîty Press

Lîbrary o Congress Cataogîng-în-Pubîcatîon Data

Names: Pearson, Traîs, 1979– author. Tîte: Sovereîgn necropoîs : the poîtîcs o death în  semî-coonîa Sîam / Traîs Pearson. Descrîptîon: ïthaca : Corne Unîversîty Press, 2020. |  ïncudes bîbîographîca reerences and îndex. ïdentîIers: LCCN 2019026365 (prînt) | LCCN 2019026366  (ebook) | ïSBN 9781501740152 (coth) | ïSBN 9781501740176 (pd ) | ïSBN 9781501740169 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Death—Poîtîca aspects—Thaîand—  Hîstory. | Death—Proo and certîIcatîon—Thaîand— Hîstory. | Thanatoogy—Thaîand—Hîstory. | Poîtîca cuture—Thaîand—Hîstory. | Thaîand—Foreîgn Reatîons—1782–1945. CassîIcatîon: LCC HQ1073.5.T5 P33 2020 (prînt) |  LCC HQ1073.5.T5 (ebook) | DDC 306.09593—dc23 LC record avaîabe at https://ccn.oc.gov/2019026365 LC ebook record avaîabe at https://ccn.oc.gov/2019026366

Cover îmage: “Courtyard o Bangkok’s Gogotha” rom Jacob T. Chîd,Asîa: Remînîscences o The Pear o the Court o a Supreme Monarch, or Fîve Years în Sîam(Chîcago: Donohue, Henneberry & Co., 1892). Photo courtesy o the Corne Unîversîty Lîbrary Dîvîsîon o Rare and Manuscrîpt Coectîons.

To Phî Pha and the Sukwon Famîy, who took în a twenty-one-year-od wanderer and heped hîm ind hîs way. To Su-Pîn, Quînn, and Josephîne—the îe and îht în my word.

Archîves do not record experîence so much as îts absence; they mark the poînt where an experîence îs mîssîng rom îts proper pace, and what îs returned to us în an archîve may we be somethîng we never possessed în the Irst pace. —Sven Spîeker,The Bî Archîve: Art rom Bureaucracy

The chronîcer, who recounts events wîthout dîstînguîshîng between the great and the sma, thereby accounts or the truth, that nothîng whîch has ever happened îs to be gîven as ost to hîstory. —Water Benjamîn,Seected Wrîtîns,Voume 4, 1938–1940

Co n t e n t s

Lîst o Iustratîonsîx Note on Namîn Conventîons, Sources, Transcrîptîon, and Transatîonxî

 ïntroductîon  1. Bad Death  2. ïndemnîty and ïdentîty  3. Treaty Port Tort  4. Accîdenta Metaphysîcs  5. Morbîd Subjects  6. ïncîsîons and ïnscrîptîons  Concusîon  Epîogue: Spîrîts în a Materîa Word

Acknowedments165 Appendîx169 Notes177 Bîbîoraphy211 Index229

1 12 37 63 87 110 130 152 158

I l l u s t r at i o n s

1. The charne grounds at Wat Saket, cîrca 1900 2. Map o centra Bangkok, cîrca 1900 3. Kîng Chuaongkorn boardîng an eectrîIed tramcar 4.Pratu Sam Yot(Sam Yot Gate), cîrca 1892 5.Thanon jaroen krun(New Road), cîrca 1900 6. An eectrîc-powered tramcar on New Road 7. Dr. T. Heyward Hays 8. Prînce Naret Worarît

20 41 42 50 52 53 80 99

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