An Exploration of the Life history of the Northern Thailand Hill Tribes Dress Collection

Abstract

Research in material culture and museum studies have increasingly used the social life or biographical approach, put forth by Arjun Appadurai and Igor Kopytoff, to look at the objects in museum collections, as they can reveal histories and relations that are often concealed. This approach, however, does not place much emphasis on the material qualities of the objects in question. Hence, this research seeks to address this limitation by looking at the clothing items from the Northern Thailand Hill Tribes collection at the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum. Through reviewing published literature on the Northern Thailand hill tribes and the museum archives, as well as making detailed observations of the clothing items themselves, this research explores the life history of these clothing items and their socio-cultural significance. In doing so, this research will broaden the knowledge on these museum objects and inform the way that research on these museum objects can be undertaken. This research also enables the peoples of the Northern Thailand Hill Tribes to see how their culture and dress has come to be understood by others, which affect the ways in which they view themselves.