Thai Comics’ Grappling with Various Shades of Transnationalism

Abstract

Transnationalism, or, at least the fear of losing its national sovereignty and culture to foreign entities, was a major concern of Thai authorities in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Siwilai (civilized) project was implemented for the selective adoption of Western thought. Though Western impacts upon Thai cartooning existed throughout the twentieth century, they often were countered by indigenous forms such as cartoon likay, verse editorials, and summary cartoons. In more recent times, tendencies to seek foreign markets for Thai comics and animation are very apparent.