ABSTRACT Since the beginning of Thailand’s protracted political crisis in 2005, the country has experienced a conservative political turn centered on the monarchy. One of the regions where this turn has been most pronounced has been in southern Thailand. Studies of the south have tended to focus on the border provinces, its Malay Muslim community, and a long-running separatist movement. The more populous parts of the upper south with a Thai-Buddhist majority have been largely overlooked. In recent decades the south’s old Buddhist heartland has witnessed a high level of cultural and religious dynamism. This region has given birth to an influential new academic field of southern Thai studies and a distinctive southern Thai literature. These factors have contributed to the hardening of a southern Thai Buddhist identity. Politicians and activists from the south have played a prominent role in Thailand’s on-going political crisis. This article explores the rise of conservative radicalism in southern Thailand’s Buddhist heartland with reference to the roles of southern academics, writers, poets, activists, and politicians over the last half century. It offers a regional case study of the roots of Thailand’s political crisis as well as the rise of Buddhist radicalism in Southeast Asia.

中文翻译：

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泰国南部佛教中心地带保守激进主​​义的根源

摘要自2005年泰国长期政治危机爆发以来，该国经历了以君主制为中心的保守政治转向。这种转变最为明显的地区之一是泰国南部。对南方的研究往往侧重于边境省份、马来穆斯林社区和长期的分离主义运动。上南部人口较多、泰国佛教徒占多数的地区在很大程度上被忽视了。近几十年来，南部古老的佛教中心地带见证了高度的文化和宗教活力。该地区孕育了有影响力的泰南研究新学术领域和独具特色的泰南文学。这些因素促成了泰国南部佛教身份的巩固。来自南方的政治家和活动家在泰国持续的政治危机中发挥了重要作用。本文参考了过去半个世纪中南部学者、作家、诗人、活动家和政治家的角色，探讨了保守激进主​​义在泰国南部佛教中心地带的兴起。它提供了有关泰国政治危机根源以及佛教激进主义在东南亚兴起的区域案例研究。