UC Berkeley

This dissertation examines the uneasy symbiosis between commercial and spiritual space in Bangkok through an ethnographic analysis of the transformations surrounding the city’s malls, street markets, and a historic commercial district. At first glance these ‘high’ and ‘low’ commercial spaces may stand in stark contrast with one another: Each of them have their own distinct form and history within urban, regional and global contexts. However, through this ethnography I demonstrate that the contemporary changes they are each undergoing are inflected with a range of spiritual practices and beliefs. Local relics and shrines not only play into the theming of new businesses and commercial districts, they also protect the owners and patrons of these commercial spaces. At the same time, Buddhist morals and spiritual figures guide the decisions and rationale behind the evictions of Bangkok’s street vendors and rebranding of its malls by developers and government officials. By examining what links these symbols of contemporary urbanity, this project reveals a carefully choreographed relationship between Bangkok’s commercial and spiritual landscapes.

Looking beyond Buddhist scripture and the sangha, I see contemporary spiritual practice in Thailand as a repertoire that incorporates Feng Shui, shrines, mystics, Brahmin and animist practices. By using spiritual space as an entry point to studying Bangkok’s street markets, shopping malls, and a recently established creative district, I show that binaries often used to classify the architecture and urbanism of globalization are fundamentally unproductive and simplistic. Therefore my work is distinct in its focus on how the connection between globalization and spiritual practices, as visible in work on occult economies and prosperity religions, is manifested in the shaping of contemporary cities. What enables the success of commercial spaces in Thailand is precisely the ability of vendors and developers to carefully tread and maneuver themselves between the local and global, secular and spiritual, informal and formal spheres.

This manuscript is divided into three parts: “The Mall,” “The Market,” and “The Creative District.” In each part or chapter I examine what distinguishes the changes playing out across Bangkok’s modern commercial landscape from the establishment of creative districts, vendor struggles against eviction, and the “death” of retail visible elsewhere in the world. Questions I explore include: How has this repertoire of spiritual practice shaped the commercial landscape across time and defined what constitutes a ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ ‘successful’ or ‘unsuccessful’ entrepreneur, patron or commercial space? What are the limits of incorporating spiritual iconography and worship spaces into commercial environments? Although focused on the context of Bangkok, this project more broadly investigates who has the right to engage in commerce and shape the commercial landscape.

This project is based on a period of fieldwork that spanned over two years, consisting of semi-structured and unstructured interviews, archival research, and participant observation with vendors, advocacy groups as well as within a government agency promoting the creative industries. Each chapter of this ethnography reveals a variety of tangible and intangible stakeholders responsible for shaping Bangkok’s modern commercial landscape. These stakeholders go far beyond the business owners, government officials, mall developers and street vendors directly involved in the running of these businesses, to include spiritual figures, ghosts and Brahmin spirits.