ABSTRACT
In recent years, Asia has witnessed a marked expansion of heritage as a field of discourse and practice. As noted by the volume editors, the widespread concern for heritage preservation in the region is directly linked to the rapid pace of socio-economic change and the perceived ‘losses’ of cultural diversity and traditional lifeways to the seemingly relentless juggernaut of globalisation. One significant outcome of this increasing attention to heritage has been the revival and celebration of the cultures of historically marginalised, indigenous and minority ethnic groups. In Thailand, for example, the state-led movement to revitalise local cultural heritage (moradok thang watthanatham thongthin) has brought visibility and recognition to the ethnic Khmer – an ethnic minority of 1.4 million (Lewis 2009) who have lived for nearly a century in silent obscurity on the periphery of the nation-state.
