ABSTRACT
Reynolds (1992) has recently suggested the potential for 'local history' in Thailand to provide a challenge to 'the conclusions of the general history of the centre', and I should like to locate the following analysis of ritual forms among an ethnic minority within the context of such a potential. Increasingly, 'strong arguments against the idea of a unitary, essential "Thai" culture and the presupposition of fundamental cultural axioms or principles' (Turton 1991: 1) have led to a concern with the construction of national identity out of diverse representations as a process requiring investigation. Clearly such a process of national construction is at once 'mental' as it is 'material', and involves aspects of both practice and representation. Much of the interest of studies of Northern Thai society lies in their capacity to illuminate a process of state formation through the incorporation of local practices and traditions.
