Tourism Impacts on Authentic Culture of Maehongson and Padaung Population

When tourism and culture come together in Maehongson, there are bound to be both positive and negative social-cultural impacts on the Padaung population.

Positive impacts may include tourism transforming into a “force for peace”, a motive for strengthening the community, and a driving power behind civic involvement and tribal pride. (Temasek Polytechnic TCS Division, 2011)

Tourism is definitely working peace amongst the people – for centuries, the “different Karenic sub-groups historically have not recognized each other as belonging to the same group until very recently” (Waddington, 2002). Their reconcilation is very much thanks to tourism – the various Karenic sub-groups have obviously come to understand that because authentic cultural tourism is a popular trend, they have to cooperate with one another to defend their culture and put together a bona fide cultural package in partnership against the attractiveness of other indigenous groups as one large group. Regardless of what their motive for putting bad blood behind may be, what is important is that tourism has impacted the social-cultural dimension affecting the Karen-Padaungs positively.

Tourism has also fortified the local community, especially in the area of professional training. According to a traveller by the name of Rich Morgan, some of the Karen-Padaungs had been edified in terms of linguistic variety. Instead of speaking only Thai and their local dialects, Morgan’s local guide Chan had been a knowledgeable steward who had the ability to translate “the name of every plant and bird” in “perfect English.” (Morgan, N.D.) This is similar to how tour guides in Cambodia are now mostly multi-lingual to cater to the various linguistic origins of incoming tourists. (Temasek Polytechnic TCS Division, 2011) Such edicifcation do not alter the original linguistic skills of the community; neither do they change the way locals interact with each other – it is merely an add-on that has helped locals form partnerships and even friendships with their foreign visitors (Morgan, N.D.)

Tourism encouraged civic involvement by helping the host community comprehend the financial value of both their natural and cultural spots. Locals are seen basking in the glory of tourist appreciation, donning their traditional hand-sewn blouses and selling their hand-crafted dolls and textiles. (Waddington, 2002) In turn, this increases preservation and conservation of the local heritage and environment, hence pitching further contributions to sustainable partnership between tourism and the Padaungs’ culture.

On the flipside, tourism also causes negative social-cultural impacts to the authentic culture and indigenous group. These may come in the form of alterations or loss of indigenous identity and values, and ethical issues. (Temasek Polytechnic TCS Division, 2011)

To start off, changes or loss of indigenous identity and values are extremely detrimental to the authentic culture of Maehongson’s Karen-Padaung. Some Padaungs have been so receptive towards the foreigners, to the extent that they have perhaps crossed over to the mentality of adoption of foreign values and rejection of local culture for good.

For example, Padaung’s ex-‘poster girl’ Zember had been known to remove her brass rings to “live modern lives like the rest of us”. (Haworth, 2008) With comparatively more sophisticated tourists showing up on Maehongson’s door-step, Zember had been exposed to visitors’ norms and cultures which are all so different from her own. Attracted by urbane ways of living, she has protested out of traditional captivity by removing her rings – also meaning she has declined her own culture. Zember may possibly be one of the many Padaungs to step out of their ancient traditions, defying customary beliefs and taking “family prosperity” into her own hands instead of relying on the conviction of brass rings being able to do so, and at the same time causing distress to the indigenous identity and values on top of the possibility of commodification – hand-made items such as textiles, blouses, dolls and wick baskets may have been made just to appease tourist demand instead of for practical use.

With regards to ethical issues, Thai authorities had been violating the Padaungs’ human rights. In an interview with a Padaung lady, it was reported that local authorities did not permit long-necked Padaungs going abroad because “they will lose business”, probably fearing the eventual possibility of no new or repeat tourist arrivals due to mass immigration as a “generation of disgruntled young women” arise. (Meo, 2006) Because they wanted to bank on tourism for the sake of their nation’s GDP, they had infringed civil liberties and played down the women's rights to live their own lives.