Interpreting Cultural Heritage for Non-Thai Visitors in the Hat Siao Community, Sukhothai Province, Thailand

Abstract

The Hat Siao community is a small community in Sukhothai province. It is located beside the Yom River which is the main resource for agriculture and for traditions and ceremonies. The local residents in the community are Thai-Phuan people. They have created a mixed and rich culture and heritage with both tangible and intangible features. Unfortunately, without appropriate interpretation, 1) some examples of the cultural identity of the community are likely to fade away or disappear from the community. Furthermore, 2) the great potential to promote this community to international visitors is absent due to the lack of community cross-cultural interpretation. This research is aimed to 1) verify the cultural identity and evaluate the existing heritage resources of the community, 2) identify non-Thai visitors’ characteristics, expectations and acquired experiences in the community and 3) examine the issues and challenges of cultural heritage interpretation for cross-cultural visitors to the Hat Siao community. Both primary and secondary data were collected with a combination of research methods. The literature review, documentation research and comparative research were conducted to collect secondary data while field observations, questionnaires, in-depth interviews and a focus group meeting were conducted to collect primary data. The study was conducted from December, 2014 to June, 2018.

The results revealed that even though the cultural heritage resources of the Hat Siao community embraces all aspects of the Burra Charter, the evaluation which was conducted in terms of the dimensions of authenticity from the Hoi An Protocols revealed that the authenticity of the community heritage resources has been changed in various ways. Thus, controlled commodification should be employed in the community to balance conservation and commercialization. Heritage interpretation is recognized as the crucial tool to conserve community identity to acquire long-term benefits, raise public awareness and encourage the locals to be proud of their value.

For the analysis of foreign visitors, the results indicated that non-Thai visitors in the community had different characteristics; however, their expectations were largely to learn ratherthan to have leisure experiences. Unfortunately, their desire cannot be fulfilled by the available heritage interpretation. Hence, the community need to develop the effective interpretation for cross-cultural visitors from improving the key messages for cross-cultural visitors and find channels to transmit the messages to foreign visitors through off-site and on-site interpretation techniques via both digital and traditional ways. Besides, the community heritage interpretation should include local messages or local voices and requires local involvement in presenting their heritage to visitors.

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