Thaification is the process by which groups at the fringe of the Thai state become (or are made) more similar to the Central Thai heartland. To an extent this is a natural result of these groups being part of a modern state in which Central Thais occupy a dominant geographical, economic and cultural position, but it has also been actively encouraged by the Thai government.

The main subjects of Thaification have been ethnic groups on the edges of the Thai state, geographically and culturally: the Lao of Isan, the hill tribes of the north and west, and the Muslim minority of the south. However, Thaification has been, to a considerable extent a byproduct of the nationalist policies consistently followed by the Thai state over the 20th century. The promotion of Thai nationalism in the country as a whole took the form of reinforcing the Thai identity in the heartlands, while creating a Thai identity on the fringes.

Thaification by the government can be separated into four strands:

• First, and most obviously, the government has targeted specific policies and actions at the fringe groups. An example of this is the Accelerated Rural Development Programme of 1964, the Isan component of which included the strengthening of allegiances with Bangkok and the rest of the country as one of its objectives.
• The second strand consists of policies applied nationally, but which disproportionately affect the fringe groups. One example of this is the prescribed use of the Thai language in schools. This had little effect on Central Thais who already used the language in everyday life, but had a major impact on speakers of Isan in the north-east and of Malay in the south.
• The third group of policies was designed to encourage Thai nationalism in all the country’s people: obvious examples are the promotion of the king as a national figurehead, saluting the flag in school and the twice daily broadcasts of the national anthem on radio and television. Encouraging Thai nationalism had the obvious side-effect of discouraging other loyalties, such as that to Laos in Isan or that to Malaysia in the south.
• Finally, policies which were not overtly nationalistic could nevertheless have the effect of promoting nationalism. Increasing school attendance, for example, when coupled with the proscription of minority languages in schools, had the effect of discouraging the use of those languages in favour of Thai.

Thaification is also partly a natural result of participation in the society of a modern nation state. Central Thailand being economically and politically dominant, as well as geographically central, its language became the language of the media and of business. Equally, its values became the national values. Central Thai culture’s being the culture of wealth and status made it hugely attractive to those on the edge economically and socially.

Further reading

• Thongchai Winichakul. Siam Mapped. University of Hawaii Press, 1984. ISBN 0824819748
• Wyatt, David. Thailand: A Short History (2nd edition). Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0300084757