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Article ID: CBB229641226

Photography and Forgery in Early Capitalist Siam (July 2019)

Lim, Samson W. (Author)

Technology and Culture
Volume: 60
Issue: 3
Pages: 795-815
Publication date: July 2019
Language: English

URI: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/731443

ISSN: 1097-3729

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2019.0073

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Photography Technology and State Nation-state formation Money 20th century Myanmar (Burma)

This article examines the introduction of two technologies, photography and paper currency, in Siam (Thailand after 1939) during the early twentieth century and their roles in shaping the development of the modern Thai political economy. It does so through a historical study of a counterfeit crisis that plagued the kingdom immediately after the introduction of paper money in 1902. By analyzing the crisis, it shows how the formation of class and development of capitalism both depended on technologically reproduced symbols of the state and social status. As such, policing the distinction between genuine and fake became critical to both the identity of the new bourgeoisie and the operation of the new economy. The resulting fixation on authenticity, in turn, reflects the underlying anxiety on the part of the new elite over the basis of their authority and wealth in a rapidly changing society.

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