Politic of Knowledge: From Human Ecology to Thai Baan Research

Abstract

This article aims to explain the foundation and development of Thai Baan research or Villager’s research which was developed for a decade and takes place under the context of community rights and the politics of knowledge. The foundation concept of Thai Baan research is human ecology and political ecology approach and involves a joint research process between villagers, social worker, and academics. While the core knowledge of Thai Baan research is traditional ecological knowledge which dispossessed by the scientific/laboratory sciences that state and capital use to legitimize development. At present, Thai Ban research can be applied for studying health impacts assessment. Therefore, this article proposes to amend the law to allow public participation according to international principles and public hearing must accept other form of knowledge. especially traditional ecological knowledge in order to achieve development justice.