Public Project
A Culture Adrift
Summary
Step into a world in transition along Thailand's Andaman Coast. This photo essay captures the Moklen people's determined fight to anchor their cultural roots against the powerful currents of modernity. Witness their struggle to protect their identity—a challenge documented in the fading whispers of their unique language and the potential irreplaceable loss of traditional practices. Their story is a powerful reminder that preserving one culture means safeguarding a treasury of biocultural diversity and ecological knowledge vital for all humanity.
The Moklen, an Austronesian-speaking ethnic group of approximately 4,000, have resided along Thailand's Andaman Coast for generations, with oral traditions tracing their settlement back 500 years. Known to the Thais as “Chao Le” (sea people), a term also encompassing two other sea-based ethnic groups, the Moken and the Urak Lawoi, their traditional lives are deeply intertwined with the natural world. They rely on foraging, cultivating profound ecological knowledge of the region. Their culture is rooted in the worship of natural and ancestral spirits, having historically integrated elements from other cultures.
However, the Moklen’s traditional existence faces significant upheaval. Modernization, driven by the tin mining boom and mass tourism, has pushed them away from maritime traditions and towards wage labor in agriculture, tourism, and construction. They have also endured a long history of discrimination due to their distinct worldviews and language. Younger generations, influenced by formal education, often assimilate into Thai society, concealing their identity and abandoning their native language. All this weakens their cultural roots.
A pivotal moment for the Moklen was the 2004 tsunami, which devastated their communities, leading to coastal land privatization, forced relocations, and ongoing land disputes. This crisis underscored their urgent need to strengthen their identity. Collaborating with experts, they began documenting their history, revitalizing their culture, and building databases of traditional knowledge, which they now apply to eco-cultural tourism to promote their heritage and generate income.
Despite these efforts, preserving their mother tongue remains a critical challenge. The Moklen language is spoken by fewer than 600 individuals, primarily from the grandparental generation, with younger generations having shifted to speaking Southern Thai as their native language. Linguists are working against time to document this underexplored language, which holds potential insights into the Moklen's undocumented history and the evolution of human language.
The Moklen's traditional world of shared ownership and reliance on nature sharply contrasts with modern society's laws of private property and the separation of humans and nature in conservation. Nationalist ethnocentric Thai society often dismisses their culture as primitive. These pressures, combined with the direct effects of climate change on their livelihoods, have pushed the Moklen to the brink, threatening their cultural roots with outside forces beyond their control.
This photo essay portrays these profound challenges, capturing the fading of invaluable traditional practices. Ultimately, the potential disappearance of the Moklen's unique language and culture signifies an irreplaceable loss of biocultural diversity and ecological knowledge, underscoring that their struggle mirrors global challenges faced by indigenous communities and is a concern for all humanity.
The photo essay A Culture Adrift: The Moklen World in Transition has been exhibited as part of the photo exhibition The Unseen Weave at the following institutions:
- Sriwiang Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
Gallery Website
- House of Lucie Samui, Surat Thani, Thailand
Read about the Exhibition
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