Methods of Constructing Images of a ‘Southern Region Community’ from the Southern Historical Literary Work Series History of Phatthalung-Trang (Early Period)

Abstract

Background and objective (s): The Southern historical literary work series of Phatthalung- Trang (early period)” was written by Chan Chaijun and Phat Phonchai during 1953-1954. An interesting aspect of this literary series is the use of different methods to construct a ‘Southern region community’, which has a hidden political ideology, and is also related to the direction of the community images. Therefore, the research for this article aimed to study methods used to construct images of a ‘Southern region community’ from the Southern historical literary work series history of Phatthalung-Trang (Early Period)”.
Methodology: The researcher selected the Southern historical literary works that appeared in booklet format. The characteristics of the books are similar to the Wat Koh books of the central region. The author was identified as a Southerner and provided details about the characteristics of society in Southern Thailand. The research emphasizes text interpretation. The findings are presented in a descriptive analysis method.

Main result: The results revealed that the author used two methods of constructing images of a “Southern Region Community”: the use of nine linguistic strategies and three narrative strategies. All these methods supported six images of an “Ideal of Southern Region Community”: 1) images of the leader, 2) images of geography, 3) images of the economy, 4) socio-cultural images, 5) images of the environment and 6) i mages of politics and administration.

Relevance to Thai Studies: This article relates to Thai studies in terms of dissemination of new knowledge on local literary studies that show the importance of studying texts in a particular area that are closely related to that society, in this case, the South, which is a part of Thailand. The study also reflects the relationship between literature and history, namely the transition of the text from writing to printing. The study guidelines of this article can be applied to literary texts in other regions of Thailand.

Conclusion: The results show the wisdom of Thai people in the creation of local literature in terms of using linguistics and narrative constructed images of a ‘Southern region community’ and helps build an appreciation of the aesthetics of local literature.