The Sacred Geography of Bangkok's Markets

Ara Wilson

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2008, vol. 32, issue 3, 631-642

Abstract: Abstract Vernacular shrines pervade the markets of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand and a globalized city in Southeast Asia. Based on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork in Bangkok, this article traces the history of cross‐border flows and shifting political economic arrangements that remapped the sacred geography of the city. It considers the consolidation of a pantheon of enchanted figures into a modern ‘prosperity religion’ that is practiced in commercial enterprises as well as in daily life across the country. Mapping the spiritual geography embodied in market shrines reveals changing mobilizations of local and transnational circuits of spiritual power in relation to the shifting national and transnational flows of material and cultural power. Résumé Les lieux de dévotion vernaculaires envahissent les marchés de Bangkok, capitale de la Thaïlande et ville mondialisée du Sud‐Est asiatique. S’appuyant sur un long travail de terrain ethnographique réaliséà Bangkok, l’article retrace l’histoire des flux transfrontaliers et des différents dispositifs politico‐économiques qui ont redessiné la géographie sacrée de la ville. Il s’intéresse à la fusion d’un panthéon de personnages enchantés en une “religion de la prospérité” moderne, pratiquée dans les entreprises commerciales et au quotidien dans l’ensemble du pays. Cartographier la géographie spirituelle matérialisée par les sanctuaires des marchés révèle une transformation des mobilisations des circuits locaux et transnationaux de la force spirituelle en lien avec l’évolution des flux nationaux et transnationaux de puissance matérielle et culturelle.

Date: 2008
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