A book newly acquired by the Thammasat University Libraries, Childbirth and Tradition in Northeast Thailand: Forty Years of Development and Cultural Change, is by Anders Poulsen, a Danish psychologist who celebrates his 90th birthday this year. Poulsen, an expert in child psychology, helped to develop the Danish educational system and was the founding president and executive secretary of the International School Psychology Association. In 1988 he received an honorary doctoral degree in development education of Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, personally presented to him by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Poulsen deserved this honor because of his sustained interest in Thailand. In 1961-2, a research project funded by UNESCO first brought him to Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand. Since then, he returned repeatedly to further study local customs, especially those associated with pregnancy and childbirth. His latest professional visit was in 2005, when he was 80 years old.
The purpose of the study.
The International Institute for Child Study, founded and operated by the Thai Government and UNESCO, examined how Thai children lived and developed in villages. The Institute’s first study, before Poulsen became involved, was in 1960-61 in the village of Napa in Chonburi Province. A third study was done in U-Meng village in Sanpathong District in Chiang Mai Province from 1962 to 1963. Earlier, from October 1961 to April 1962, Poulsen was based in Baan Phraan Muean village in the Udorn province of Isan. At the time, villagers lacked almost everything that today would be considered essential for safe and secure childbirth, and researchers studied how they managed nonetheless to safeguard their families. Isan traditions and folklore about childbirth had never been available to English language readers before. Over the past several decades, with improved access to technology and modern medicine, things have changed dramatically. Some traditions still remain in practice, while others have been abandoned. Poulsen’s analysis of why some folklore stays current while other practices are forgotten is of special importance for readers with an interest in Thai ways.
Childbirth and Tradition in Northeast Thailand describes traditional beliefs about pregnancy and provides texts of rituals in the Thai and Isan languages, as well as translations into English. These include detailed information about folk medicines used by local women. The ritual texts were translated into English by Associate Professor Supranee Khammuang and Pernille Askerud, a senior research fellow at the University of Copenhagen Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
Praise for Anders Poulsen’s work.
When Childbirth and Tradition in Northeast Thailand was first published in 2007, the Journal of the Siam Society enthusiastically termed it a “meticulous report of change over time in Baan Phraan Muean village, and of the behavioral and cultural response of the villagers. This work has broad relevance for helping us understand the psychological impacts of social change, and learn how to mitigate their harm, particularly as the pace of change quickens and reaches into preciously remote areas. The design and visual appeal of the book captivates the reader and opens a fascinating window on Thai village life.”
Notably, Poulsen achieved his excellent results while only possessing a master’s degree. His in-depth knowledge was due in part to the fact that he knew all the villagers he wrote about for their whole lives, so was able to bring unmatched depth and perspective to describing their lives. One reader, the eminent expert Professor Dr. Chancha Suvannathat, former director of Behavioral Science Research Institute, Bangkok, observed: “As a Thai researcher, I myself feel appreciative and indebted to Anders Poulsen’s research work because his mission does provide successfully the very rare information not only on how well these Thai families have managed their lives, but also explaining and depicting vividly their precious customs and rites and how family strength has been built, developed and preserved by the sociocultural transmission process, despite many emerging new competitive socialization agencies and systems.”
More insight.
Another informed fan of the book was Stanley J. Tambiah, professor of anthropology at Harvard University and a specialist in Thai studies. In a review, Professor Tambiah noted that after Poulsen’s appointment at the Bangkok Institute of Child Study Institute as a UNESCO expert ended in 1962, the Danish International Development Agency and other funders made it possible for him to return to the village in 1967-68, 1977, 1988, and 1999. The sheer amount of time he was able to dedicate to the people and their customs over many years is unusual for a Western anthropologist. In 1961, the 932 villagers of Baan Phraan Muean had little interaction with the nearest town, Udorn, around 17 kilometres away, since they had no money to pay for the services available in this more developed place. Poulsen did not just study the people of Baan Phraan Muean, he actively helped them to build a Thai-Denmark Friendship School in 1965, the basis for future educational achievement. This added knowledge helped residents to understand the value of modern medicine. In 1978, fully 75 percent of pregnant women preferred to have their babies at home, but a decade later, most preferred a clinic or hospital. By 1999, every expectant mother in the village went to the local health center and gave birth at the Udorn hospital. Other developments occurred as well. In 1971, electricity became available in Baan Phraan Muean and ten years later, some homes had refrigerators, TV sets, and radios. By 2002-3, every home had a refrigerator and color TV. In 1962, Baan Phraan Muean had only one small food shop, but four decades later it had several small restaurants, hairdressing salons, and tailoring shops.
Local Customs.
One of the liveliest parts of Poulsen’s book is the description of such customs as yuu-fai (lying by the fire). After childbirth a woman with her newborn child would lie next to an open fire for several weeks. Locals sometimes called yuu-fai “mother-roasting” since it was uncomfortably hot, as confirmed by his interviews carried out from 1968 to 1999. The fire itself had to be made with special wood gathered by the infant’s father. During yuu-fai, new mothers could only eat grilled sticky rice (khau jii) later adding salted fish and other foods to their diet.
Traditions still in effect and ranking in Asia.
Many pregnant women in Thailand still follow traditional customs such as drinking ginger tea and coconut milk, eating coconut meat, fish, and tamarind. Spicy food is also favored by some. Recent statistics for maternal mortality rank Thailand somewhere around the middle of the world’s countries. Childbearing is less mortally risky in Thailand than it is in such countries as Laos, Guyana, Pakistan, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, the Philippines, North Korea, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam. Yet Thailand still needs to develop further to match the overall health and safety records for childbearing in such nations as China, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
(all images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).