A community of flood memories living with(in) the riverine landscape in ayutthaya 6

6. Conclusion This thesis is a product of my various interactions with people and the landscape of Ayutthaya – and with their help, I have tried to answer the three questions posed at the start (Table 6.1). In this final chapter, I would like to summarize the key findings by returning to one of my favourite quotes – ‘nothing in this world is as invisible as a monument’ (Musil, 1987: 506). Unlike the beached ship memorials which commemorate the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami along the coasts of southern Thailand41, there are no monuments in Ayutthaya to remember the 2011 flood publicly. Perhaps the closest the thing Ayutthaya has is a commemorative plaque at the hospital, above a mud-stained wall preserved purposefully to remember the flood (Figure 6.1). As Musil (1987) suggests, the plaque and the wall are invisible to many – people often walk by without so much as a glance. Thesis questions Answers Can flood memories be simultaneously individual and collective? Considering community as a process that requires constant performance and maintenance, the making of an active archive through enactments of individual acts of memory gives form to a community of memories. Hence, flood memories in Ayutthaya are simultaneously individual AND collective. Do memories of past floods unite or divide the people in Ayutthaya? The community of flood memories is not homogenous – besides various enactment of memories, understandings and perceptions of the 2011 flood vary. Yet, Ayutthaya is united via the memories of 2011 and the affective resonances of the flood. Notably, memories of the 2011 flood made many more aware of the riverine rhythms that influence their everyday lives. 41 th Coincidentally, the writing of this conclusion occurred during the 10 anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, and I was bombarded – on social media, news channels and in conversations – with information on commemoration programs. 118 How are past floods articulated and enacted as memories by different groups of people within the lived landscapes of Ayutthaya Mainly through mundane and everyday acts of storytelling, image collection and circulation, collection of and encounters with things, and flood lines. How are flood memories and mnemonic forms productive? Memories are oriented towards the future in a hopefully stoic attempt to live with riverine rhythms. Using the stories, images and material signs of the 2011 flood as signposts and references, people in Ayutthaya alter their homes, living rituals and routines. Furthermore, many have formed informal sharing networks, making the capacity to live with the rivers more equitable. Flood memories-as-representations are also put to work to affect actions and behaviours in future floods. How they inspire local solutions and adaptations to future floods? Table 6.1: The questions posed in Chapter One and summaries of the corresponding answers. Figure 6.1: The commemorative plaque and mud-stains of the 2011 (Buddhist year 2554) flood preserved on a section of the wall. Like many people milling about, we almost walked pass the wall without noticing it. 119 Moving away from the monumental, and into the everyday, this is where and when I learn that memories are never simply ‘deadened’ in monuments and representations (Nora, 1989; da Costa Meyer, 2009; see Chapter Two). Walking within the lived landscape of the city, memories of the flood are literally everywhere. Some tell stories about crocodiles or snakes on the loose, others long for a lovedone, many collect and/or displays photographs of the flood - flood memories are often un/consciously and spontaneously enacted in the lived landscape; sensuously and performatively transforming the latter into an active archive of the 2011 flood. In this case, the embodiment and enactment of the past ‘enable the ongoing conduct of everyday life’ (B. Anderson, 2004: 8; emphasis original) in Ayutthaya. These seemingly individual and personal enactments of memories are, in fact, performances that engender a community. Thus, flood memories are lived and experienced at the nexus of the individual and the collective levels (Chapter Four). In the words of P’Samlit, individuals in Ayutthaya ‘do the same things’ after the 2011 flood (emphasis my own). Yet, this ‘sameness’ should not be taken at face value – as discussed in Chapter Four, differences haunt the active archive of Ayutthaya. This thesis has shown that understanding how flood memories are enacted with(in) the everyday landscape is important for two reasons. Firstly, these memories reconstitute human-river relations in Ayutthaya. In a wonderfully written article, Owain Jones et al (2012) discuss the meaning of the word, ‘settle’. Implicitly embedded within the seeming stasis of this word are movements, cycles and routines ‘repeated over time and space’ (O. Jones et al, 2012: 78). Thus, paradoxically, to settle, one has to be constantly unsettling – in other words, responding to a host of extra-human actors, processes and rhythms in an everbecoming world. As enactments and encounters with the more-than-human, memories of the 2011 flood lie at the center of the unsettling of everyday life in Ayutthaya. In their encounters with memory traces of the flood within the landscape, people are constantly reminded of how their lives are unsettled and influenced the 120 mobility, agencies and rhythms of rivers. By recognizing and remembering that rivers are mobile entities, people in Ayutthaya emphasize the need to respect and live with riverine rhythms. This is a significant shift away from the ‘control and mitigate’ paradigm which continues to inform approaches towards rivers at the governmental level (Lebel et al, 2009). This change in perspective towards rivers and their fluxes is not limited to the discursive, nor does it pre-signify actions. Instead, it is borne simultaneously from practices of remembering - as Hinchliffe (2010: 307) puts it, ‘actions enter into thoughts’ – and is constantly being translated into worldly practices. Emplaced at the strategic in-between of action and thought, memories of the 2011 flood are also important as they take on a productive orientation towards the future. Flood memories are empowering as they are directly utilized in the everyday politics and commitment towards making life in Ayutthaya better (see Amin & Thrift, 2005; Springer et al, 2012; Chapter Five). Flood memories, and in turn riverine rhythms, are embedded within small-scale and prosaic architectural changes, and are steeped within mundane routines in the landscape. Furthermore, social relations are also restructured by practices of remembering through acts of mutual aid and sharing. The coming together of people of different socio-economic backgrounds alongside more-than-human actors and things in informal sharing networks has made the capacity live with(in) riverine rhythms a more egalitarian possibility for many in the city. William Cronon (1993: 2) reflects that studies of the environmental past tend to generate a ‘sense of despair’ and ‘hopelessness’ towards the future. Learning from the people in Ayutthaya has taught me the opposite. Based on their memories suffering and from the associated discontentment towards the 2011 flood, hope emerges. By enacting and living their memories of the 2011 flood, people are, in general, (cautiously) hopeful and confident about their futures with(in) the riverine 121 landscape. Becoming hopeful is not the same as becoming optimistic (B. Anderson, 2006). The former recognizes the contingent nature of the unfolding world and the multiple potentials of the future – and in Lasch’s (1991: 81) words, ‘the worst is always what the hopeful are prepared for’. In their attempts to live with riverine rhythms, people in Ayutthaya are constantly anticipating and preparing for future floods. By grounding the research empirically on the riverine island of Ayutthaya, this thesis has shown the importance of flood memories in the unfoldings of the landscape, subjectivities and the present/future. While it seems like the people of Ayutthaya are living with little state control and intervention – at least when it comes to flood and riverine management – many still consider the government an important actor. This is obvious from their responses to the question: “In relation to flood and rivers, what are your hopes for Ayutthaya and the future?” I hope the government lets the waters flow naturally, through Bangkok and into the sea… I hope they will not hide information from us. I also hope that our home is high enough to stay dry, and that we have enough food and water. We are quite simple… That’s all we need [laughs]! P’Watra/ 33/ hawker/ Female/ April 2014 Paa Sao: For everyone to be safe, of course! [Laughs] And if the government would invest in our community, that would be the best. Serene/P’Chon: What you mean ‘invest in our community’? Paa Sao: Build less dams and water gates, use that money to smaller things like subsidize home modifications, and make building materials more accessible – this will help us help ourselves. That’s what I hope for. Paa Sao/ 52/ Souvenir vendor/ Female/ April 2014 I not wish to make prescriptive statements of how memories could be effectively marshalled into flood management strategies. This thesis has, however, shown that flood memories are inseparable from the everyday lives of riverine settlements in 122 Thailand. Thus, correspondingly, any form of effective state intervention will have to consider and incorporate the memories of past floods. Furthermore, as many of the participants have pointed out, it is through the small, seemingly insignificant and slow interventions to the lived landscape that people can live with riverine rhythms. Thus, instead of the large-scale ‘technological fixes’ that continues to be the key imperative for flood management in Thailand, the state can perhaps consider working with the people to encourage and enact such everyday interventions. 123 . with riverine rhythms, people in Ayutthaya are constantly anticipating and preparing for future floods. By grounding the research empirically on the riverine island of Ayutthaya, this thesis. flood memories are lived and experienced at the nexus of the individual and the collective levels (Chapter Four). In the words of P’Samlit, individuals in Ayutthaya ‘do the same things’ after the. Do memories of past floods unite or divide the people in Ayutthaya? Considering community as a process that requires constant performance and maintenance, the making of an active archive