Pottery Community Characteristics Toward A Learning Community In Thai Context

Abstract

This article is an analysis of community characteristics toward learning community in Thai context in three aspects:  1) characteristics of community people, 2) community environment consisting of existing knowledge and natural resources, and 3) learning processes. It is a qualitative research study for which the researcher collected data by participant observations and in-depth interviews. The researcher had been in the community and participated in community activities for ten months. The tools employed in this research comprised of interviews, observations, and field records. Individuals interviewed were official and non-official leaders and community people. It was found, by this research, that the pottery community has evolved and developed toward a learning community over time which can be seen from people in the present community consisting of both natives, entrepreneurs and business owners, and community leaders. Community environments that support or lead to learning were pottery-making knowledge  and clay knowledge, including learning resources, such as knowledgeable individuals, natural environment, factories, jar houses, kilns, and community shops scattered all over the community. Besides, the community has its own learning center with local traditional curriculum involving pottery making for new generations to learn and maintain such knowledge and expertise. Regarding learning processes, community people began to learn the craft of making pottery from outsiders and transferred it to their family members, from one generation to another. In the meantime, with outsider visits and purchases of pottery products, further learning exchanges took place, no longer confined to family members, but expanding to include learning with people in the community, academics, experts, and designers who came in contact with the community. During these periods, there were further transfers of knowledge and skills to community people and close assistants called “Luuksit”, or students. Moreover, when the commercialization of pottery products materialized, community people had a chance to learn and interact with outsiders who came in as teachers and training experts, study tours outside the community, suggestions from customers, and exchange of ideas between the community, resulting in transferring knowledge and skills to wider audiences. Moreover, the community people learned from problems arising from the production process and opened up themselves to new knowledge from various media.