Palokhi is situated some 90 kilometers north-west of the provincial capital of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand (Figure 1.1). The village lies in a generally hilly area which, in this thesis, I call the Pa Pae hills after the largest Northern Thai settlement in the area.^[5] The Pa Pae hills, which are generally above 700 metres in elevation, are part of a larger area of hill country which forms the eastern edges of the Doi Inthanon mountain range stretching from North to South. Through this area, there is a road which begins at Mae Malai in Amphur Mae Taeng and leads up to Pai in the province of Mae Hong Sorn. Palokhi is situated several kilometres off this road within an inter-montane valley system which forms the drainage of the Mae Muang Luang, a river, and several streams. The largest stream is the Huai Thung Choa by which Palokhi is located.^[6]

The Mae Muang Luang-Huai Thung Choa drainage system is essentially an area of dissected hill country with a central ridge over 1,000 m which rises to approximately 2,000 m. Above 1,000 m, the landscape is marked by the extensive presence of Imperata cylindrica. Since 1975, reforestation programmes of the Royal Forestry Department have resulted in the overplanting of much of this grassland with Pinus kesiya, an indigenous species of pine. Below 1,000 m, however, land cover consists of multi-storeyed evergreen forest and woodland.

The Mae Muang Luang-Huai Thung Choa basin has a total area of 220 km². In 1979–80, it had a total population of 1,438 of which 976 were Karen, 247 Northern Thai, 169 Lisu and 46 Yunnanese Chinese living in 23 settlements distributed throughout the area. Of these 23 settlements, 14 were Karen, 6 Northern Thai, 2 Lisu and 1 Yunnanese Chinese (Thannarong et al., n.d.).^[7] Population density in the area was, therefore, 6.5 per km². Compared to other highland areas in Northern Thailand, the Mae Muang Luang-Huai Thung Choa area is relatively unpopulated and there is a high proportion of forest and woodland even in the vicinity of Karen villages (Chapman 1983:322). As Chapman also notes, overall there is little pressure on the Karen swidden system and Northern Thai farming activities in the area. This general observation is true for the Palokhi Karen and Northern Thai within the Huai Thung Choa valley. The Palokhi Karen occupy the middle section of the valley while the Northern Thai (at Ban Mae Lao and Ban Thung Choa) inhabit the lower end near the Mae Malai-Pai road at the confluence of Huai Thung Choa and Mae Lao. Given the distribution of population in the Huai Thung Choa valley and a general separation of areas of exploitation for subsistence purposes between the Karen and Northern Thai, there is little competition for natural resources in the valley.

There is also a Royal Forestry Department Watershed Development Unit headquarters which is located next to the Lisu village of Ban Lum. Scattered throughout the Mae Muang Luang-Huai Thung Choa area are several sub-units of the Watershed Development Unit at Ban Lum which are engaged in various activities and projects such as reforestation, as well as a Flower Plantation which is engaged in ornamental flower horticulture for a crop replacement programme. These activities have had a direct impact on some of the settlements in the Mae Muang Luang-Huai Thung Choa basin but Palokhi has only been indirectly exposed to them thus far.^[8] Where the Palokhi Karen are concerned, these sub-units offer opportunities for wage work which they take advantage of from time to time.

Palokhi, at the time of my fieldwork (1980–1982), varied between 18 and 20 households with a corresponding population of 109 and 116. Its closest neighbours, approximately 2 kilometres away downslope the Huai Thung Choa, are two Northern Thai settlements — Ban Thung Choa and Ban Mae Lao. The contact between the Palokhi Karen and Ban Mae Lao is, by far, the more important although it is further away than Ban Thung Choa. The reason is that Ban Mae Lao, which lies next to the Mae Malai-Pai road, functions as an important node in the network of economic linkages in this particular part of the Pa Pae hills. The reasons for these contacts are, therefore, primarily economic.

The principal features of the economic linkages between Palokhi and Ban Mae Lao, as well as some other Northern Thai settlements (including Ban Thung Choa) may be summed up quite simply as follows. In broad general terms, the subsistence economy of Palokhi consists of a dual system of cultivation based on swiddening and wet-rice agriculture. The Palokhi Karen, however, are not self-sufficient in rice production and they therefore purchase rice in Ban Mae Lao and, to some extent, in Ban Pa Pae.

In 1980–81, for example, there was an overall deficit in agricultural production which amounted to 16 per cent of total consumption requirements. This could only be met by recourse to external sources of rice by various means.^[9] If this deficit is translated into expenditures on husked glutinous rice (which is what the Palokhi Karen purchase in Ban Mae Lao and Ban Pa Pae) at the 1981 price of Bht 4.5 per litre in the Pa Pae hills, it amounts to the very considerable sum of Bht 49,135.5. These aggregate figures serve to indicate the extent to which 10 out of the 18 households in Palokhi are dependent on external sources for their rice requirements.

In order to purchase the rice they need, the Palokhi Karen require cash. This they earn primarily through the sale of tea leaves (Camellia sinensis) for the dry leaf and miang (fermented tea) industries, wage labour in related activities and, secondarily, from the sale of forest products, and services. The rice which the Palokhi Karen purchase is not, in fact, surplus rice grown by the Northern Thai in the Pa Pae hills; it comes from the markets of Chiang Mai and is sold by shop-keepers in Northern Thai settlements such as Ban Mae Lao and Ban Pa Pae.^[10]

The tea and miang industries, based in Mae Taeng, are therefore of considerable importance to the Palokhi Karen. What is noteworthy about Palokhi Karen involvement in these industries (especially the miang industry), as I show later in this study, is that there is a marked absence of institutionalised credit arrangements and on-going indebtedness on the part of the Palokhi Karen. This also holds true of the relationship between them and the shop-keepers in Ban Mae Lao and Ban Pa Pae from whom they buy rice and other commodities. In other words, although the Palokhi Karen are dependent on these external sources for rice, they are not locked into institutionalised or rigidly defined external socio-economic relationships.

This too is a feature of the wage work undertaken by the Palokhi Karen in Northern Thai settlements in connection with the tea and miang economy. The work consists essentially of clearing tea gardens, chopping firewood for steaming miang, and portage. It is obtained on an ad hoc basis and employer-worker relationships, correspondingly, last only for the duration of the work with wages generally being paid at its conclusion.

For all practical purposes, the Palokhi Karen are therefore dependent to a significant extent on an external, regional economy in order to meet their consumption requirements in rice. It is a relationship which rests essentially on an important function characteristic of Northern Thai settlements situated along the Mae Malai-Pai road in the Pa Pae hills, that is, their role as conduits for exchanges and transactions in a regional economic network which links the Pa Pae hills with the lowlands of Chiang Mai.

The point I wish to stress here is that although the Palokhi Karen are integrated into a network of local and regional economic linkages through the necessity of obtaining rice and the need for cash to purchase it, they are not bound in structured socio-economic relationships.

Apart from being integrated within the larger economic system of the region, Palokhi has relatively recently experienced greater and more regular contact with agencies of the Thai government in the form of the Provincial Government’s District Office at Mae Taeng and, of course, the Royal Forestry Department.

In 1975, for example, the Pa Pae area was given tambon (sub-district) status whereas it had previously been part of tambon Sopoeng. A registration exercise, for the purposes of issuing official documents such as identity cards (bat pracam tua) and household registration certificates (baj thabian baan), was also conducted in the same year. All households in Palokhi were registered and most adult males now possess identity cards. One result of this extension of the District Office’s administration into the area has been that the Palokhi Karen are required to register births, deaths and children when they reach 18 years of age for identity cards. Another consequence has been that they have to pay a tax for the upkeep of the locality (phasii bamrung thaung thii 6). The tax is collected annually by the kamnan (the head of a cluster of villages by government appointment), a Northern Thai, living at Ban Mae Lao. The Palokhi Karen have difficulty in comprehending the rationale of these administrative measures, but they are conscientious in observing them and to this extent they have already accepted the reality of an external authority which impinges on their lives. They also do not fully understand the nature of the tax. There is a general misapprehension that it is related to the ownership of wet-rice fields and that it implies a certain official recognition of their rights to these fields which is one reason why they are concerned to pay their dues.

The significance of this establishment of District Office administration in the area is that the Palokhi Karen acknowledge the authority of government agencies. They are also fully conscious of being part of a larger polity though they do not quite grasp the implications of this fact in terms of their rights and obligations.

The presence of the Royal Forestry Department in the Huai Thung Choa area has also impressed upon the Palokhi Karen that they are not an isolated, independent community. This is particularly evident where their farming activities are concerned. For example, officials of the Royal Forestry Department have visited them occasionally bearing the message that swiddening should be limited or curtailed because of its deleterious effects on forest cover. They tend to ignore such exhortations but they are, at the same time, apprehensive that in so doing they may incur penalties although they are quite unable to specify the nature of these penalties. It may be noted that the Royal Forestry Department’s officials do not, in fact, attempt to coerce the Palokhi Karen into abandoning swiddening through specific or even vague threats of punishment. Their belief that they will be penalised should be understood in terms of reactions to institutional authorities with functions which are not fully comprehended but which are regarded as having considerable power to affect their lives.

The presence of the Royal Forestry Department is also important from another point of view. It has provided various opportunities for work which the Karen have taken advantage of on a short term basis. This has taken the form of very short term wage work such as clearing Imperata grasslands for reforestation to earn some cash as well as longer term employment in order to save money to buy wet-rice fields prior to settling in Palokhi.

It is indeed true that the Palokhi Karen (and for that matter other Karen in the area) and the Northern Thai see each other as being culturally different. In the wider context of the Pa Pae hills area, it is also true that there is competition between Karen and Northern Thai for land due to upland migration of Northern Thai. This is part of a more general trend in Northern Thailand which Chapman (1967) has described. In the specific context of the Huai Thung Choa valley, this competition for productive resources is reflected only to a limited extent. It is confined to access to wild tea bushes growing in the forest between Palokhi and the two Northern Thai settlements, rather than farming areas because the Northern Thai prefer to cultivate wet-rice fields (and sometimes swiddens) near their villages. The competition is also limited because of low population densities and a general separation of their respective areas of exploitation for subsistence purposes. However, it exists to the extent that where the Northern Thai utilise the forest between Palokhi and Ban Thung Choa and Ban Mae Lao the Palokhi Karen are therefore pre-empted from picking the tea bushes in the area. Most Palokhi Karen tea gardens are, thus, to be found around the village and on the western slopes of the Huai Thung Choa valley near the village. Nevertheless, neither the Palokhi Karen nor the Northern Thai regard this as a source of potential conflict.

The most important feature of the relations between the Palokhi Karen and Northern Thai, however, is the dependence of the Palokhi Karen on an external economy that is at their point of contact dominated by the Northern Thai who act as middle-men or as employers in wage work. This may well be regarded as a very specific kind of “structural differentiation”, though not necessarily in Keyes’ sense. By this I mean a distinct separation of economic arrangements between the Northern Thai and the Palokhi Karen which is mediated only through direct cash transactions in, for example, seller-buyer and employer-worker relationships.

In terms of the principles underlying ethnic adaptation discussed by Keyes, it could be argued that it would, perhaps, be to the advantage of the Palokhi Karen who are significantly dependent on this economy to “become Northern Thai” and, therefore, compete on a more equal basis for the resources that they are dependent on by necessity. The agricultural systems of the Palokhi Karen and Northern Thai are not radically different and, indeed, the Northern Thai themselves often do not produce enough rice for their needs. However, they have access to a wider economy which offers greater opportunities by which their rice deficits may be made up. One of these opportunities consists of acting as middle-men between the Palokhi Karen and other Northern Thai and Chinese merchants who are further links in the chain of economic networks stretching up to Pai and down to Mae Taeng. It is thus conceivable that it would be advantageous for the Palokhi Karen to integrate themselves more fully into such a system, by “becoming Northern Thai” and availing themselves of the opportunities which are open to the Northern Thai.

The same might also be said of the relations between the Palokhi Karen and the Thai bureaucracy. The Palokhi Karen actually do recognise quite clearly that when it comes to dealing with officials of the Mae Taeng District Office, for example, they are less able to do so compared to the Northern Thai. And they are aware that the difference lies in the fact that the Northern Thai are more informed about the workings of the Thai bureaucracy. Nevertheless, this does not prevent them from also viewing the matter in terms of ethnic affiliation and its attendant advantages or disadvantages. In addition to this, the Palokhi Karen occasionally complain that while some Northern Thai cultivate swiddens, officials of the Royal Forestry Department appear to be less concerned about it whereas they themselves are told to limit their cultivation of swiddens. The insinuation in these complaints is that the Northern Thai are privileged in some sort of way because they are Northern Thai.

Yet, the fact of the matter is that notwithstanding their dependence on the Northern Thai dominated local economy for rice to make up their deficits and other commodities, and whatever advantages they may attribute to being Northern Thai in dealing with the Thai bureaucracy, the Palokhi Karen present every semblance of having a life and identity of their own. Indeed, it is probable that even if they could “become Northern Thai”, they would not wish to do so. Although they are quite able to see that they are dependent on external sources for rice to make up their deficits up to a certain extent, this does not go beyond a pragmatic assessment of economic realities. It is an economic fact which has little impact on their consciousness or sense of being a community to themselves.

In their view one of the more discernible features of life in Northern Thai communities (such as Ban Mae Lao and Ban Pa Pae) is the proximity to figures of authority and exposure to official demands. For example, although the Palokhi Karen are conscientious about paying their taxes, they do not seek out the kamnan at Ban Mae Lao to hand over the money. Instead they wait for him to come around before they part with their money. This is reflective of a more general feeling that if they establish regular contacts with the kamnan, they would become more open to other official intrusions through the person of the kamnan.

Another example of how they view the Northern Thai and life in Northern Thai settlements is an attitude that there is total exposure to Northern Thai (in general) who cannot be trusted at best, and who are dangerous at worst. This is reflected most clearly in the constant fear that the Northern Thai will steal their cattle or buffaloes. It may also be seen in the way they explained, without hesitation, the six Northern Thai homicides in the Pa Pae area in 1980–81, in the following terms: “because the Northern Thai are like that”.

In terms of their own perceptions, the Palokhi Karen thus have good reasons for remaining unambiguously Karen in the context of their relations with the Northern Thai. At this cognitive level it is the belief in their own distinctiveness which is important in the positive value placed on a Karen identity. The Palokhi Karen, in short, possess a very definite “Karen” ethnic identity. But what, then, of their cultural identity?