泰國的族群政策

Ethnic Policy of Thailand

世人多認為泰國是一個文化同質性高的國家，然而實際上泰國卻是一個擁有超過七十個語言族群的多元文化國家。本文研究發現，造成人們表象認知與事實大幅落差的因素導因於泰國的族群政策，因為自從十九世紀以降，泰國就極力推行族群同化主義，以期能打造一個文化同質性的泰國。本文採歷史社會學的觀點，從泰國語言政策和民族打造來探討泰國族群政策的過去與現況。就具體內容而言，本文針對泰國族群紛擾較多的地方進行較深入之個案探究，包含泰南馬來穆斯林的分離運動問題、東北伊善人的認同問題與貧窮問題，以及北方山區原住民族人權問題等，期能對泰國的族群政策有更全面的了解。

"It is widely believed that Thailand is a country with high cultural homogeneity. However, Thailand is actually a multicultural country with more than 70 language groups. The gap between people's perception and reality is due to Thailand's ethnic policy which can be traced back to the 19th century when European powers showed their ambition to this country. Under this historical background and the intention of nation building, Thailand has been vigorously promoting ethnic assimilation in order to create a culturally homogeneous and united country. Based on a sociological appraoch, this paper discusses the past and current situation of Thailand's ethnic policy as well as its language policy. In terms of ethnic issues, this article specifically focuses on three in-depth cases where there are more turbulent ethnic conflicts, including the separatist movement of Malay Muslims in southern Thailand, the identity and poverty problem among the Yishan people in the northeast, and the human rights issues of the indigenous peoples in the northern mountain areas. Hopefully these cases are conducive to a more comprehensive understanding of Thailand's ethnic policies."