Isan people
The Isan people (Thai: คนอีสาน, RTGS: Khon Isan, Thai pronunciation: [kʰōn ʔīːsǎːn]; Lao: ຄົນອີສານ; Burmese: အီသန် လူမျိုး) or literally Northeastern people are an ethnic group native to Northeastern Thailand[2] with an estimated population of about 22 million.[1][3] Alternative terms for this group are T(h)ai Isan,[1][4] Thai-Lao,[5] Lao Isan,[1][6] or Isan Lao. Like Central Thai (Siamese) and Lao, they belong to the linguistic family of Tai peoples.
Not to be confused with Esan people.
In a broader sense, everyone who comes from the 20 northeastern provinces of Thailand may be called khon isan. In the narrower sense, the term refers only to the ethnic Lao who make up the majority population in most parts of the region. After the failed Lao Rebellion in 1826, the region witnessed mass forced population transfers of ethnic Lao into Isan. Following the separation of Isan from the historical Lao Kingdom, its integration into the Thai nation state and the central government's policy of "Thaification", they have developed a distinct regional identity that differs both from the Laotians of Laos and the Thais of Central Thailand.[2][7][4] Integration of this identity into Thai national identity began around 1900,[8][9][10] accelerated during the fascist era,[11] was aggressively pursued during the Cold War,[2] and is maintained today, although in 2011, Thailand officially recognized the Lao identity to the United Nations.[3][12] Even during the height of the Cold War, the level of this integration was very high,[2] as measured by expression of nationalist sentiments.[13] Even today, the Isan people are some of the most nationalist in Thailand; they are more nationalist than the Central Thai.[14][15] As such, during the height of Thailand's 'color wars' in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the mainly Isan-based Red Shirts were not calling for separatism but a return to democracy, in support of the Pheu Thai party.[16]
Almost all inhabitants of Thailand's Northeast are Thai nationals. Yet a majority of them (approximately 80%)[17] are ethnically Lao and speak a variant of the Lao language when at home (the three main Lao dialects spoken in Northeastern Thailand are summarized as the Isan language).[18] To avoid being subjected to derogatory stereotypes and perceptions associated with Lao-speaking people, most prefer to call themselves khon isan.[19][20]
Official status[edit]
Thailand's longstanding policy was not to regard Isan as a separate ethnicity, based on the principle of considering all Tai groups living in Thailand as part of the Central Thai people. This successfully downplayed the majority Lao ethnicity and led to the development of a distinct regional Isan identity,[21] which is, nonetheless, multi ethnic.
In 2011, Thailand recognized almost all its ethnolinguistic identities. The following table shows all the officially recognized ethnolinguistic groups of Northeast Thailand.[3] The source, a 2011 country report to the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, uses revised (2004) Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data (1997), which provides population numbers for most Northeast Thailand ethnic groups.[22] Subsequently, in 2015, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security's 2015 Master Plan for the Development of Ethnic Groups in Thailand 2015-2017[23] officially recognized the majority of the Northeast's peoples, the main exception being the 'Thai Lao' group. Further, it did not recognize the 'Isan' ethnic identity.
Ethnology[edit]
The first Western scholar to identify and study the distinct "ethno-regional" identity of khon isan was the US anthropologist Charles F. Keyes in 1967.[24] He chose to categorize them as a "ethno-regional" group rather than an ethnic minority, given that their "cultural differences have been taken to be characteristic of a particular part of the country rather than of a distinctive people."[25] He has, nonetheless, consistently described them as being formed mainly of the ethnic Lao group.[2]
Migration[edit]
Millions of people have migrated from Isan to the Bangkok agglomeration seeking work and they constitute at least one-fourth of the capital's population.[46][47] About 8,000 from Isan live in Laos on the eastern bank of the Mekong River, which forms much of the border with Thailand. Others have emigrated to Malaysia, Singapore, and western countries such as Australia and the United States.[1]
Migrant workers from Isan in Bangkok filled the role of construction workers, taxi drivers, cleaners, vendors, dishwashers, domestics, sex workers and other menial professions, often settling in shanty towns on the outskirts of the city. The Isan people faced discrimination for their humble, Lao origins, funny accents, darker features and low-class professions but the extra money earned was sent to support family back home, and remittances such as these remain an important part of the Isan Region's GDP today. The seasonal migrations were also spurned by the economic crash at the end of the Vietnam War, when large air bases were built in Isan and large numbers of US military stationed there provided a brief window of prosperity in the region.
Discrimination[edit]
Until the 1980s, when the road infrastructure and more relaxed attitudes towards regional cultural awareness began to take root, it was common for Isan people to face severe prejudice and discrimination. Isan culture, although similar, was at the same time quite exotic, with the pungent foods and rural people referred to as 'stinky' and the people 'stupid' and 'lazy'. The isolated rural region continues to be Thailand's least educated, least urban, least developed and least integrated region of the country, which can be seen in the numbers. More than three-fourths of Isan's people are engaged in agriculture despite the challenges of floods, droughts and infertile soils but only generated 10.9 per cent of Thailand's gross domestic product in 2013. Isan culture and language immediately conjure up images of ignorant yokels, backwards traditionalists and country bumpkins.[50]
Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, as new lands to develop were no longer available, Isan people began to migrate to Bangkok and other tourist areas or major cities to seek work during the dry season, when there was little activity on the farms, or permanently, sending occasional remittances to family members back home. Restricted by prejudice and lack of skills and education beyond farming, Isan people competed with migrant workers for menial jobs such as street sweepers, janitors, nannies, taxi drivers, porters, shoeshiners, vendors and construction workers, among others. Many establish shantytowns and slums on the outskirts of the city. As a result of their rural roots and the ranks of Bangkok's urban poor, the Isan are often depicted as ignorant buffoons, naïve rural people, domestics in a Thai home or dimwitted, petty criminals.[51][52]