Reciprocal relations in the Karen highlands of northern Thailand

Abstract Karen communities in northern Thailand work to maintain reciprocal relations with the plants, animals and spirits with whom they coexist. They conceive of these relations as essential to the maintenance of community health, food security, and a balanced climate and environment. Calling upon the natural affordances between certain plants and animals and specific spirits who care for them, Karen communities have traditionally used customary regulations and ritual actions to ensure these three forms of security: health; food; environment and climate. Drawing upon the traditional knowledge of the first author, a Karen rights activist, musician and professor, and supplemented by examples drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted by both authors, we lay out a framework for understanding reciprocity in Pgaz K'Nyau Karen communities in northern Thailand. This framework presents Karen relationality as a tripartite system in which each group of beings (humans; plants and animals; and spirits) is connected to the others through customary regulations, prayers, rituals and affordances. Only by maintaining these relations can the security of all beings be ensured. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.