Abstract:
The research aimed firstly to study local wisdom of boat building, secondly to find out the relation of boats and way of life of people in the central part of Thailand, and lastly to describe the changing role of boats in the diverting social context of the central part of Thailand which included 10 provinces of the Chao Phraya Basin. The data were collected from 3 groups of people regarding the fields of information: 1) boat building, 2) boat usage, and 3) role of boat in the present. Interviewing and participant observation were used to collect the data, and descriptive analysis was used to analyzed the data. The findings were as follow. In terms of boat building, in the past the knowledge of boat building was passed from generation to generation through the process of learning by doing. Then, this kind of knowledge was taught in schools. Because of few numbers of wooden boat builders and specialists, boats were then transformed to serve specific purposes. Materials and technology in boat building were changed. For the relation of boats and folk life, it was found that boats were strongly related to economy. They were used for import and export goods. Boats were also related to politics and governance. Boats were also related to belief and religion. People believed in holy spirit of boat guardian. Boats were related to folk custom and royal custom. For the role of boats, it could be stated that boats were still important to society and peoples way of life because people used boats in their daily life. People used boats for transportation. They also used boats in their occupations which was local fishery and weighty goods transportation. This meant that boats played an important role in strengthening community economy. In terms of tradition, boats were used in long-tailed boat racing and royal robe offering ceremony. In terms of tourism, boats were used in tourism-related businesses such as floating market, traveling cruise and dinner cruise.