Subjects of the Nation Without Citizenship: The Case of ‘Hill Tribes’ in Thailand

The hill tribes of northern Thailand comprise nine officially recognized groups: the Austroasiatic-speaking (AA) Khmu, Htin and Lawa; the Hmong-Mien-speaking (HM) IuMien and Hmong; and the Sino-Tibetan-speaking (ST) Akha, Karen, Lahu and Lisu. Except the Lawa, the rest of the hill tribes migrated into their present habitats only very recently. The Thai hill tribes were of much interest to research groups focusing on study of cultural and genetic variation because of their unique languages and cultures. So far, there have been several genetic studies of the Thai hill tribes. However, complete forensic microsatellite database of the Thai hill tribes is still lacking. To construct such database, we newly generated 654 genotypes of 15 microsatellites commonly used in forensic investigation that belong to all the nine hill tribes and also non-hill tribe highlanders from northern Thailand. We also combined 329 genotypes from previous studies of northern Thai populations bringing to a total of 983 genotypes, which were then subjected to genetic structure and population relationships analyses. Our overall results indicated homogenous genetic structure within the HM- and Tai-Kadai (TK)-speaking groups, large genetic divergence of the HM-speaking Hmong but not IuMien from the other Thai groups, and genetic heterogeneity within the ST- and AA-speaking groups, reflecting different population interactions and admixtures. In addition to establishing genetic relationships within and among these populations, our finding, which provides a more complete picture of the forensic microsatellite database of the multiple Thai highland dwellers, would not only serve to expand and strengthen forensic investigation in Thailand, but would also benefit its neighboring countries of Laos and Myanmar, from which many of the Thai hill tribes originated and where large populations of these ethnic groups still reside.

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The Relationship Terms of Some Hill Tribes of Burma and Assam

Southwestern Journal of Anthropology ◽

10.1086/soutjanth.4.2.3628710 ◽

1948 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 155-198 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Barbara Ruhemann

Keyword(s):

Hill Tribes ◽

The Relationship

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Highland Hill tribe language - an extinct language system needed to be saved

SOCIAL SCIENCES ◽

10.46223/hcmcoujs.soci.en.8.1.275.2018 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 3-7

Author(s):

Tang Minh Chau

Keyword(s):

Root Culture ◽

Language System ◽

Hill Tribe ◽

Long Time ◽

Hill Tribes ◽

Set Up ◽

Culture And Language

Highland is a typical area in Vietnam with a great deal of unique things for people to study and discover. Among them are culture and language, the two reciprocal elements to create communities called Hill tribes. Original Hill tribes came to the Highland long time ago and set up their life based on their root culture until now. When studying about Hill tribes, we realize that their culture is very interesting and worth tracing. Therefore, how to conserve Hill tribes’ culture is what we need to take into consideration as soon as possible.

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HILL TRIBES RELIGION

Feasting and Social Oscillation ◽

10.7591/9781501719325-005 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 11-22

Keyword(s):

Hill Tribes

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‘Promiscuous’ Planting

An Endangered History ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199493081.003.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-44

Author(s):

Angma Dey Jhala

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Natural History ◽

Soil Quality ◽

East India Company ◽

Border Region ◽

Swidden Agriculture ◽

Chittagong Hill Tracts ◽

History Of ◽

Hill Tribes

During the eighteenth century, the travelogue flourished as a genre and was used to describe peoples both familiar and unfamiliar to the western observer. Chapter 1 examines one such account, the 1798 travelogue of the Scottish doctor Francis Buchanan in the CHT. In his tour diary, he deployed the language of natural history to describe not only the region’s unusual soil quality, topography, and local jhum or swidden agriculture, but also the religious, cultural, and linguistic practices of the various hill tribes he encountered. In the process, he exposed the tumultuous history of this border region, which found itself at the crossroads of imperial ambition by both the East India Company and the kingdom of Burma. He is also an intriguing example of an Enlightenment era man of science and reason in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

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The Resurgence of the Heritage of Indigenous Peoples of Thailand in the Aftermath of Development

Journal of Heritage Management ◽

10.1177/2455929619864460 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 73-84

Author(s):

Marcelo Marques Miranda

Keyword(s):

National Parks ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Land Tenure ◽

World View ◽

Heritage Sites ◽

Contemporary World ◽

Nation States ◽

Wide Range ◽

Hill Tribes ◽

The One

The dichotomy between nature and culture in heritage and conservation is inappropriate in the case of indigenous peoples. Many natural sites are often considered sacred and consequently of both spiritual and biodiversity conservation significance. However, this dualist definition is the one usually imposed by nation states. Until 2002, Thailand’s development strategies involving indigenous peoples were mostly connected to what was referred to as the ‘hill tribes’ problems’. These strategies were designed without respecting indigenous peoples’ world views and concepts of good life. Consequently, a fragmentary world view was created among indigenous peoples. These issues are reflected in the establishment of national parks and ‘heritage sites’ as the lack of participation and consent generated many conflicts such as land tenure disputes, resettlement of the communities, difficulties in acquiring citizenship and cultural loss. As a counteracting measure, indigenous peoples have been creating community museums and organizations at local, regional and even transnational level to sustain their cultures and territories. This article suggests that heritage can play a role in a wide range of social, political and economic endeavours in our contemporary world and is used both by nation states to legitimize their interests and by indigenous peoples to legitimize struggles for self-determination.

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Cultural variation impacts paternal and maternal genetic lineages of the Hmong-Mien and Sino-Tibetan groups from Thailand

European Journal of Human Genetics ◽

10.1038/s41431-020-0693-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 28 (11) ◽

pp. 1563-1579 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wibhu Kutanan ◽

Rasmi Shoocongdej ◽

Metawee Srikummool ◽

Alexander Hübner ◽

Thanatip Suttipai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cultural Practices ◽

Striking Difference ◽

Published Data ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Mt Dna ◽

Genetic Lineages ◽

Mtdna Lineages ◽

Hill Tribes ◽

Northeast Asian ◽

The Impact

Abstract The Hmong-Mien (HM) and Sino-Tibetan (ST) speaking groups are known as hill tribes in Thailand; they were the subject of the first studies to show an impact of patrilocality vs. matrilocality on patterns of mitochondrial (mt) DNA vs. male-specific portion of the Y chromosome (MSY) variation. However, HM and ST groups have not been studied in as much detail as other Thai groups; here we report and analyze 234 partial MSY sequences (∼2.3 mB) and 416 complete mtDNA sequences from 14 populations that, when combined with our previous published data, provides the largest dataset yet for the hill tribes. We find a striking difference between Hmong and IuMien (Mien-speaking) groups: the Hmong are genetically different from both the IuMien and all other Thai groups, whereas the IuMien are genetically more similar to other linguistic groups than to the Hmong. In general, we find less of an impact of patrilocality vs. matrilocality on patterns of mtDNA vs. MSY variation than previous studies. However, there is a dramatic difference in the frequency of MSY and mtDNA lineages of Northeast Asian (NEA) origin vs. Southeast Asian (SEA) origin in HM vs. ST groups: HM groups have high frequencies of NEA MSY lineages but lower frequencies of NEA mtDNA lineages, while ST groups show the opposite. A potential explanation is that the ancestors of Thai HM groups were patrilocal, while the ancestors of Thai ST groups were matrilocal. Overall, these results attest to the impact of cultural practices on patterns of mtDNA vs. MSY variation.

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