The Cultural Space of Tai-Yoh THE CULTURAL SPACE OF TAI-YOH’S HOUSE IN KLONGNAMSAI VILLAGE, SAKAEO PROVINCE

Abstract

The culture of space usage in a vernacular house is a reflection of folk lifestyle, livelihood and wisdom that is blended in a house’s space and has passed from generation to generation. Nowadays, the growth and expansion of the economy and society have rapidly expanded to rural areas which cause vernacular house and the cultural of space usage to make the function changed that they have been overlooked and lost the significant cultural values, especially the Tai-Yoh ethnic group in Klongnamsai village which is considered as the first ethnic group to immigrate to live in this area with unique characteristics in term of using the culture of space. This study emphasizes to research and understand the specific characteristics of using the cultural spaces of Tai-Yoh’s house in Klongnamsai village, Aranyaprathet District, Sakaew Province during the year 2017 to 2019 from field survey via observing, photo recording, audio recording and interview the Tai-Yoh’s House residents. The received information has been arranged, analyzed, interpreted and summarized. The results from the study appears that the cultural spaces of Tai-Yoh’s house are overlapping 3 dimensions. The first one is tangible physical space such as kitchen, bedroom (Swum), balcony (Sia or Nai-Baing), terrace (Chaan), and basement. The second dimension is the intangible mental space such as the reminiscence area. And the last dimension is the social space that reflects the identity and the characteristics of the space. Moreover, it is found that the characteristics of the culture of using the space in Tai-Yoh’s house are constantly changing according to social dynamic. The study shows the principle of cultural social’s beliefs is an important factor to decide the conventions of physical space and functional space, including the psychological expression, attitude and beliefs which represent the characteristics of the Tai-Yoh’s community in Klongnamsai village.