The material culture of Muay Thai within the linguistic landscapes of selected South African and Thailand gyms.
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Date
2024
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University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This thesis explores the representation of Muay Thai within vastly different sporting spaces of South Africa and Thailand under the lens of material culture. Muay Thai is Thailand’s national sport, which has been practiced for centuries. It is gaining popularity worldwide as a martial art, a system of self-defence and a method of fitness. Although it has been around for an extended period of time, Muay Thai has arguably been subjected to constant evolution contingent on the space in which it is found. The linguistic landscape (LL) comes into play here, as signs in Thailand and South Africa index different cultures. Hence, the representation of Muay Thai in these different spaces is of sociolinguistic interest in this study. The study takes a qualitative approach in terms of data collection. I conduct three semi-structured interviews with two Krus (Thai word for coaches) and one fighter. I also reflect on field notes recorded while visiting Thailand. The subject matter pertaining to the Krus involves their position in the martial arts, their views on how the sport differs in South Africa and Thailand, and their views on femininity within the sport itself. The subject matter explores the fighter’s views on femininity within the sport and how she observes Muay Thai practised in South Africa and Thailand.
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Keywords
Linguistic Landscape, Material Culture, Muay Thai, Transgressive Semiotics, Commodification