ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Thai state’s approach to cultural heritage. The two defining features of the state’s approaches to heritage and Thailand’s cultural policy are 1) morality and the notion of “good culture”; and 2) seesawing between cultural unity and cultural diversity. Both facets have clear influences from Thailand’s history with colonialism and the Cold War. The nation’s more recent desire for recognition of its heritage at the international level has produced a hybrid of cultural values, with the state choosing specific elements of non-dominant cultures to promote itself as diverse. This selective multiculturalism, however, fails communities whose heritage is seen as “too different” or conflicting with the national narrative.
