Thailand. Ghosts of the past in southern Thailand: Essays on the history and historiography of Patani. Edited by Patrick Jory. Singapore: NUS Press, 2013. Pp. xxix + 336. Maps, Figures, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

Ghosts of the past in southern Thailand: Essays on the history and historiography of Patani Edited by PATRICK JORY Singapore: NUS Press, 2013. Pp. xxix + 336. Maps, Figures, Bibliography, Index. doi: 10.1017/S0022463413000751 As the violent conflict in southern Thailand has escalated since the beginning of the 2000s, there has been a markedly increased interest in the history of the region among scholars based in Southeast Asia and beyond. Reflecting this broader development, Ghosts of the past in southern Thailand is an edited volume containing a 'small selection' of the papers presented at a conference about the influence of nationalist histories of Patani, held at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University in December 2009 (p. x). Among the thirteen contributors are several of the world's leading Anglophone and Southeast Asian experts on the region's history. In an apparent attempt to organise the diverse contributions thematically, the main chapters of the book, apart from the editor's introduction, have been divided into four parts, of which the second, entitled 'Patani's place in Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern Islamic networks', and the fourth, entitled 'The struggle for control of Patani and its history' are the most coherent. It is above all the last part which corresponds to the main title of the book, Ghosts of the past in southern Thailand--at least if the phrase is to be understood as indicating a concern with the way history is used and understood in the region today. Two of the chapters in the first part of the book, 'Pluralism and identity in Patani's history', contain English translations of key historical texts relating to Patani's early history, including an important Dutch description of Patani in the beginning of the seventeenth century, translated by Anthony Reid, and a survey of various Chinese sources from the sixth to the nineteenth century, collected and commented on by Geoff Wade. Although it may be useful to have English translations of these sources, it is not clear why they have been included in the edited volume. The Dutch account is only one among many important European accounts of Patani in the first half of the seventeenth century--some of which are far less well-known to historians of the region--and many, if not most, of the Chinese texts have already been translated and published in English (G. Wade, 'From Chaiya to Pahang', in D. Perret et al., eds, Etudes sur l'histoire du sultanat de Patani, 2004; Ishii Yoneo, ed., The junk trade from Southeast Asia, 1998). The most important contribution in the book is, in my opinion, Francis R. Bradley's chapter 'Siam's conquest of Patani and the end of Mandala relations, 1786-1838', which is found in the third part of the book under the heading 'Alternative histories of Patani's decline and fall'. Based on contemporary and, for the most part seemingly reliable, European accounts of the Siamese subjugation of Patani, Bradley paints a vivid picture of the atrocities committed by the conquering Siamese against the population of Patani in their attempt to achieve a lasting domination of the region. …