In this article, the author uses case studies of muai Thai (Thai
boxing),2 based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the provincial town
of Nakhon Ratchasima and its vicinity between early 2000 and mid-2001, to engage
critically with the current trend of gender studies in Thailand. The article argues that
muai Thai, with its historical and cultural prominence, presents itself
as an ideal candidate for Thai studies practitioners and students to rethink the culture
of Thai men as well as to challenge pre-existing knowledge and understanding of male
identities and masculinities in contemporary Thailand. Muai Thai offers
itself as a promising cultural space to explore the ideas of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ or
‘masculine domination’ and its ramifications in a postmodern world. Through the narratives
of young Thai boxers from the countryside, who have been widely perceived in Thai society
as the ‘hunting dogs’ in the world of Thai boxing, the author contends that the forms and
practices of masculinity in Thailand are plural, fluid, highly contested and contingent
upon specific historical and cultural contexts. Indeed, there hardly exists an uncontested
singular, fixed, overgeneralized, negative or oppressive Thai masculinity, as claimed by
many specialists and students of Thai gender and sexuality. Muai Thai
construes the culturally negotiated ideology and disciplinary practices of ‘technologies
of the self’, which encourage men to work or perform their manly duties. The author's
interpretation of muai Thai has demonstrated what Connell (1995)
suggested as central to masculine identity, that ‘…being a breadwinner was a core part of
being masculine’.
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