The Story telling approach of Akha ethnicity in Chiang Rai

Abstract

   The objectives of this study were to study and analyze the story telling approach of Akha in Chiang Rai through the stories of Akha in three villages: Pangpuleoi Village in Pasang Sub-district, Saensook Village in Srikam Sub district, Mae Chan District and Apapattana Village in Mae Yao Sub-district, Muang District. The selected stories consisted of the stories with running content, structure, characters and scenes. Totally 39 stories were selected and used the story telling concept of Sukanya Sujchaya, the discourse structure concept of Kanlaya Kunsuwan and the literature structure concept of Prairoj Bunprakob as a criteria of storytelling approach study on the opening, the action and the closing. The study found that the 39 Akha stories mostly opened their stories by describing (38 stories), but one story opened its story by depicting the situation in the story. On the story running, all 39 stories ran the stories in the time order. On the closing, 20 stories closed their stories with happy ending, though 16 stories ended with moral lesson, two stories ended with tragedy, and one story twisted the ending. The study result also revealed that the Akha stories would not be complicated and easy to understand. Apart from being the community entertainment, the stories played important role on handing down the ethnic living style and lessons for its people as well.