Neo-Tribes and Traditional Tribes: Identity Construction and Interaction of Tourists and Highland People in a Village in Northern Thailand

Abstract

"The construction of identities is a social practice performed to provide identification with or opposition to the identity of other people during a process of social interaction. Individuals within groups express similar identities to identify with the others in a group, and as a group to express a difference to other groups in order to differentiate themselves, create boundaries, and otherwise separate themselves for particular purposes. Groups form their identity from the individuals within the group. And the individuals construct their identities from the wealth of their particular experience, knowledge and creativity, from the past, present and expected future. Added to this they draw from aspects of identity in their environment, selecting, expressing, discarding, choosing and adopting those that are appropriate for a particular time and place. The construction of identities is an ongoing enterprise that comes into play continuously as an action or reaction in a social context. Examining the expressed identities during a specific interaction can lead to the understanding of the reasons for the expression of those identities, and thus illuminate not only the interaction itself but also the processes at work that have brought the individual or group to a specific point in time and place whereby the expressed identities are entirely appropriate to those expressing them.

"This study concerns two diverse groups of people, tourists and highland people. In order to understand why tourists go trekking into the hills of northern Thailand to see the highland people who live there, the specific point of interaction between the two groups within a highland village was examined. The two groups of people involved are very different. For the purpose of this study, the tourists are conceptualised as a neo-tribe, and the highland people as a traditional tribe."