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 What Makes Isan a Region? Isan is a region distinct from the rest of Thailand. Recognition of this fact is reflected in all aspects of the country and its activities: government policies, newspaper reports, television shows, music performances, political campaigns, tourism promotions, educational planning, agricultural research, religious practices, development projects, military organization, fashion design, and literary activities. Anyone in Thailand hearing or using the word Isan will likely have a whole complex of images, ideas, and attitudes associated with it, and these are likely to vary according to speaker, hearer, and context. Use of the word can call forth feelings of pride, shame, humor, pity, nostalgia, derision, admiration, paternalism, disgust, warmth, fear, greed, or reverence, but never draws a blank. How has this situation come to be? How did Isan’s status as a region arise, and how has it changed and developed? The word Isan อีสาน itself is of Pali-Sanskrit origin and simply means “northeast direction,” and thus phak isan ภาคอีสาน is “northeast region,” but its denotational meaning is only a very small part of its overall referential meaning. Isan is a region both by virtue of its physical reality and of how it is perceived, whether by those inside its borders or outside them. The measurable, observable features of Isan have helped to give rise to the perceptions and attitudes that have characterized it. Ignorance, prejudice, and other forms of bias have played a major role in determining how Isan has been viewed and treated by outsiders, particularly Central Thais, and thus also in how Isan people have reacted to such views and treatment. There are two principal modes by which Isan is defined to be a region. The first is in comparison to other regions of Thailand. Isan has CHAPTER 1  พจนานุกรม ฉบับราชบัณฑิตยาสถาน กรุงเทพฯ พ.ษ, 2525. 2 Isan Writers, Thai Literature characteristics of various kinds that distinguish it from the South, the Center, and the North. Contrasts with the Central region are most salient because it is the Center which sets the standard for what is Thai in Thailand. The other way in which Isan is a region is in relation to itself, that is, as an entity that is in some way cohesive. While Isan is far from homogeneous, it does contain elements that amalgamate into a whole (although an argument can be made questioning the inclusion of Korat, see below). In this chapter, rather than discussing all the many distinctive features of Isan as a region, I will concentrate on those that have significance for modern Isan literature and its place in Thailand and Thai literary life. The Northeast region of Thailand can be referred to in Thai in a number of ways. The term Isan อีสาน is the most common.2 It was first used in the 9th century under King Rama V (see below), and thus has certain political and historical roots.3 Another term used is thi rab sung ที่ราบสูง, meaning “plateau” or “high flat place.” Its use carries an expressive and evocative quality, with a geo-cultural referent (rather than a political or historic one). This term is used primarily in literature, often by writers who are themselves from Isan. Although it refers specifically to the Korat Plateau, it can be used metonymically to mean all of Isan, or Isan in general. Finally, the phrase phak tawan o’k chiang neua ภาคตะวันออกเฉี่ยงเหนือ is Standard Thai for “northeast.” It is a general and technical term which carries strictly neutral, geographic meaning. Physical and Social Aspects The most obvious characteristic of Isan is its location: it is the large, distinctive lobe protruding on the east and slightly north side of Thailand. Isan is bounded on the north and east by the border with Laos (most of which is demarcated by the Mekong River), on the south by the border 2 Some Thais make a distinction between Isan with a short vowel /i/ อิสาน and Isan with a long vowel /ii/ อีสาน, preferring the former term due to a (perhaps misguided) belief that the long /ii/, in the word อี, carries negative connotation. I have not heard any Isan people make this distinction, which may be in part related to the fact that in Lao, the long /ii/ does not have the same negative meaning that it has in Central Thai. 3 The term as used in the names Isanapura (the city founded in the seventh century in what is now Cambodia) and Isanavarman (its ruler) was a different word and referred to Siva. [18.226.177.223] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 09:48...

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