Colonial eyes, feminist minds: women missionaries in nineteenth-century Siam

Abstract The complex relationship between women and colonialism is a popular topic of study. Women’s position within a society was often seen by imperialists as a yardstick for civilization and progress, and many European and American women found their purpose in “emancipating” indigenous women. Nineteenth-century Thailand (then known as Siam) occupies a peculiar place within this discussion, as Siamese women were often regarded as having relatively favorable social, economic, and legal positions. Although Siam was never formally colonized, imperialism still profoundly affected the country and, by extension, Siamese women. To clarify this relationship between women and colonialism in Siam, this article draws on the writings of women missionaries in the magazine “ Woman’s Work for Woman ” published by the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the American Presbyterian Church. While these women travelers came to Siam with a feminist mindset of helping their Asian “sisters,” they were complicit in spreading imperial ideas and power, even in Siam, which was nominally independent. Their travel writings were also used to produce knowledge and depict Siamese women in ways that support American-centric and imperial ideologies. This study extends discussions of the relationship between feminism and imperialism beyond formally colonized societies.