Abstract

This chapter addresses the role of mass-produced portraits of the Siamese King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, r. 1868-1910) in a personality cult that emerged in the 1990s among the urban Thai middle class in response to hopes and anxieties about Thai identity in a globalizing world. The portraits are understood as having sought out their owners themselves, even though they are typically obtained as gifts or bought from door-to-door venders, and as capable of exerting agency and providing support and security.

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