Clam Farm Conflicts: A Critical Discourse Analysis to Propel Marine Resources Justice of Bandon Bay

Abstract

The objectives of this research article are to study; the context and conditions of the clam farm controversy in Bandon Bay area, the discourse in the news and the controversial issue of clam farm ownership in Bandon Bay area in mass media, and the opinions of people in the community around Bandon Bay on the news of the conflict reflected in the media. The research method is a mixed method by collecting data from news and interviews with sample groups. The results showed that Bandon Bay, Surat Thani Province, is a cockle farming area that has been promoted since 1987. Later, when the government has a Sea Food Bank project that can turn the marine area into capital, there is an invasion and occupation of Bandon Bay until causing a conflict. The study on discourse in the news about the controversial issue of clam farm ownership in the Bandon Bay area from the approach of Critical Discourse Analysis by using Fairclough’s (1995) showed that the discourse had presented three important ideas as follows: Bandon bay’s clam farm had a high value, conflict arising from capitalists, and law is the resolution of conflicts.The ideology was conveyed through six language strategies as follows: Vocabulary, Rhetorical question, Idioms, Metaphor, Presuppositions and Reference. It had presented two ideologies are legal ideology and business ideology. The results of the study of discourse practice found that it affects people in the wider society because it is published through social media. The study on the analysis of sociocultural practices led to perceptions of conflict problems, behavior against the law and the concept of capitalism. A study of Bandon Bay community opinions on conflict news found that, unlike mainstream news, conflict was not caused by capitalists but rather by violations of capitalist laws and local fisheries. Therefore, if everyone respects the law and respects each other's rights, it will truly solve the problem.