Tai lue architecture, ritual and textiles: a cultural analysis

Abstract

Using the architecture and textiles of the Tai Lue of Lanna Tai, Thailand and their cultural counterparts, the Dai Lue of Xishuangbanna, Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Peoples Republic of China, this thesis explores the manner in which the cultural forms of architecture and textiles support and complement each other in conveying culturally significant messages. This research explores, analyzes and interprets the relationships between architecture and textiles in relation to the Tai belief structures using verbal, visual and textual information gathered from libraries, research institutes and fieldwork in Thailand and China. The approach taken is that architecture and textiles not only embody values and beliefs, but they also generate order and interaction in the natural, cosmological / metaphysical and social worlds. As well, through their use, these cultural forms reiterate and transform these orders and interactions. Finally, the idea that the effectiveness of architecture and textiles to function as symbolic cultural containers relies on the relationships established through their simultaneous presentation within ritual performance.