I asked a couple, “Suppose your daughter wanted to marry a Thai man. How would you feel about that?” Their answer helped shed light on whether they see themselves as culturally distinct from the mainstream population. If they said, “It would be her choice to marry whoever she wishes,” then that might be a clue that the culture is shifting to the prevailing customs and away from their own (usually this was the answer given).
On the other hand, if the parents had answered, “She should only marry a Moklen man,” that might be a clue that they still uphold different values than the popular view.
This last season of assessments has taken me to west coast of Thailand on its southern isthmus. Along with a couple of friends, I hopped on a long tail boat (see photo) and went to a few little islands just off the coast to seek out one of the three Sea Gypsy people groups-the Moken (roughly pronounced maw-can). One particular trip was a night excursion between two island villages.
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Island Hopping In The Dark: Surveying Sea Gypsy Villages In The Andaman Sea
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This week I’m doing a survey with the Eastern Bruu people group in N.E. Thailand in an area known as the Korat Plateau. I’ll going to an area that is only a few hours from the Laos border. I’ve visited four villages already and have another four to go. Most of my time is spent with the village leaders, shop owners, and farmers.
I don’t speak or comprehend E. Bruu. You might be wondering, “How you can tell whether or not the people are using the local dialect?”
I have a new job for the next six months. I’m the new People Group Assessment Coordinator for my organization. I’ll be overseeing comprehensive surveys of several people groups that live in the far corners of the country. I’ll be going to the Khorat plateau in the N.E. near the Laos border, to the mountains near the country’s center, and then all the way down to the coast (on the Andaman Sea side) on the southern isthmus. The language groups are just as varied. Austronesian groups in the South, Sino-Tibetian groups in the central part, Mon-Khmer and Thai groups in the N.E.
Two days ago I visited a village that was tucked away in the mountains along the Laos border. It was 1.5 hrs away along a very windy road that went through a couple of mountain ranges. This place was the most remote Thai Lue village I’ve been to. Since the mountains were so close by, cell phone coverage was non-existent.
After arriving I met a man who was very helpful in telling me about his locale. Most of the people there were farmers. Lychee and Corn were the main cash crops. It was a poorer community (at least compared to our area) with no walls or fences marking the borders of each property.