A discourse analysis of the Thai experience of “being krengjai”

Abstract

One of the most difficult issues in conducting research in Thailand is categorizing the subtle influences of Thai cultural practices. Within the milieu of these practices, the practice known as krengjai has troubled both Thai and Western researchers and is often referred to as the most difficult concept in Thai culture for Westerners to understand. This research will attempt to answer the question of how the multiplicity of meanings of krengjai is understood by researchers and practiced by Thai people through historical research and public surveys. Furthermore, this research will look for a method of understanding that will allow researchers to find the best approximation of meanings within a range of meanings of highly contextualized, social practices. A review of the literature over the past half-century unveiled a multiplicity of English-language–translated meanings given for krengjai. This research used critical discourse analysis, as developed by Norman Fairclough, to categorize the various English translations of the meaning for krengjai appearing in various research works in several disciplines over the past 50 years. The visualization software named Pajek, designed to map out relationships, was used in this study to visualize the patterns of links between researchers for the purpose of following different trajectories of meaning. Through visualization, the various changes of meaning were followed through time. Working with Thai researchers, 15 general translated meanings were identified and translated back into Thai in the form of a questionnaire completed by 471 Thai people. The results show that krengjai can be accurately explained in English-language research using a critical discourse analysis approach to narrowly define the context of the cultural practice under investigation.