Negotiating the Restoration of a Buddhist Temple in Loei Province: A Focus on Cultural Capital

Abstract

Despite being a predominantly Buddhist country, Thailand faces an issue with abandoned temples, which have increasingly become a burden for the National Office of Buddhism to maintain. This situation also underscores the absence of monks in certain areas despite the need of local communities for their Buddhist ceremonies and merit-making. Previous attempts to address this problem have not been very successful, which highlighted the need for alternative solutions. This qualitative study investigates the successful implementation of a temple restoration project in Loei Province, which is an interesting case due to its strategic cultural adaptation in design and the fact that it was led by a group of monks without traditional sources of authority, such as monastic seniority or ecclesiastical titles. Despite lacking these traditional forms of authority, the monks were able to leverage their negotiation skills to secure community support and execute the project. Through non-participant observation and in-depth interviews with various stakeholders, including the team of four Buddhist monks leading the restoration project, monastic authorities, government representatives, community leaders, and lay participants in an ordination ceremony, the case was studied and analyzed using Michael Benoliel's framework of negotiation capitals, which provides a holistic approach to understanding efforts of negotiators. The findings revealed that the temple restoration project could be understood as a negotiation strategy, with the monks strategically utilizing their cultural capital to systematically design a project that resonated with the community and garnered widespread support.