Lanna Women and Education

Abstract

This article aims to study the historical background and paradigm shift in education of Lanna women from the conservative to the nation-building era during The Plaek Phibunsongkram (Chom Phon Por Phibunsongkram) period. The study found that Lanna women’s education has relevancies and changes according to the consistent context and environment in each historical phrase. From the past, Lanna women could be identified as having relatively low educational opportunities because of the conservative educational system that limited their participation that was prevalent only in the monasteries. During the 25th century, Lanna society saw tremendous changes with political relationships, changing economic and social cultural contexts in the face of external powers. The arrival of western missionaries introduced new educational concepts and attitudes through the mission schools with various attached ideologies of the West. In addition, the emergence of the Siam nation-state, with the change of Lanna’s status as Siam dependency into that of integral citizenship of the Siamese kingdom, has become a ‘negotiations’ ideology which has been derived from centralized policy development. At last, the changing Siam educational culture has affected the limitations in educational participation of northern women.