KITA Discourse Series 1/2023: Muslim Presence in 17th-Century Ayutthaya Beyond Its Southern Ethnic Enclaves

MUSLIM PRESENCE IN 17^TH-CENTURY AYUTTHAYA BEYOND ITS SOUTHERN ETHNIC ENCLAVES
By
DR. CHRISTOPHER M. JOLL
(VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND & CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY, THAILAND)

ABSTRACT

This seminar challenges the misconception that the most important aspect of Muslim presence in the former capital of Ayutthaya—specifically south of its fortified citadel—is its (Cham, Malay, and Makassaris) ethnic enclaves. Although some of these appear in well-known maps of the Siamese capital during the 17th-century, my reconstruction of Muslim presence outside the walled city is based on a wide range of (European, Persian, and Siamese) primary sources. After addressing important details such as the overall size of Ayutthaya’s population and the proportion that lived outside the city, I critically curate where Muslims, Mosques, and Muslim communities appear in travelogues, descriptions of the city, and maps. The picture of Muslim presence provided by aggregating these fragments suggests that historians interested in ethnicity, and/or ethnic studies specialists interested in the past, need to move beyond this familiar trope. I document Muslim involvement in manufacturing and trade and the location of mosques south of the city, before suggesting reasons for Southeast Asian (Shafi’i) Muslims having been domiciled outside the walled city by a series of Siamese monarchs during this period when Persian and Indo-Persian (Shi’ite) Muslims were most powerful.

PRESENTER’S PROFILE

Dr. Christopher M. Joll is a New Zealand anthropologist who was based in Thailand for 20 years, before returning to his home country at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic. 18 years. Since stumbling into anthropology 20 years ago, his primary ethnographic subjects have been Thailand’s Muslim minority. He completed his PhD at ATMA, UKM in 2009, and his monograph (Muslim Merit Making in Thailand’s Far South) was published by Springer in 2011. He is a research fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Muslim Studies at Chulalongkorn University’s Institute of Asian Studies

E-mail: Christopher.Joll@vuw.ac.nz

TENTATIVE PROGRAMME

Date: 13 March 2023 (Monday)
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (GMT +8)
Venue: KITA Meeting Room
Platform: Zoom & KITA Facebook page (links below)

10.00 a.m.: Introduction by Moderator
10.10 a.m.: Presentation by Dr. Christopher M. Joll
11.10 a.m.: Q & A Session
12.00 p.m.: Closing

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