Reexamining the Understanding of Vernacular House of “Hill Tribes” in Thailand A Case of Iu Mien House in Phulangka Village

Abstract

The research attempts to reexamine the understanding of the house and settlement of Iu Mien, a people of highland region, described in the field of vernacular architecture and in the ethnographic survey report during 1950-70.  The study used Phulangka village, an important Iu Mien village that lasted until 1968 as a case study and seek to understand conditions that played an important role on house and settlement pattern. The research materials derived from 3 different sources: 1. National Archives of Thailand, 2. Anthropological Archive, and 3. Iu Mien informants’ memory, whose born and raised in Phulangka. The analysis of document from National Archives contextualizes socio-economic conditions of Iu-Mien during their sojourn from Laos, established political relation to Nan Court and Siam. The ethnographic and field reports provide both quantitative and qualitative data that were collected methodically and in-dept perspective through the anthropological lenses. Above information were reverified and discussed which Iu Miens who were native to Phulangka, the direct experience of village life and their practical reason were revealed. Upon comparing the studying results against state of the art, the research found 2 important missing aspects: Firstly, the lack of political dimension on an explanation of a (vernacular) house. By the term “political” the research means an activity that relates to administration and governance. The utilization of an ethnic house was previously seen limited to agricultural and ritual notions. Secondly, the circumstance of people in research fieldwork was un-declared, e.g., sometime the fieldworks were carried out during the cold wars in which peoples were in the state of war refugee.