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30 Panel 2Potentials of Local Traditions: A Study on Its Development for SocialTransformationSri WahyuniIntroductionThis research sought to explore the phenomenon ofsocial transformation within the context ofdevelopment in the different monarchical systems ofThailand 1 and Japan 2 where I witnessed a synergybetween traditions of the past and developmentsbrought about by progress in both countries. Thechanges and development in Japan were brought aboutby its modernization and restoration, shortly after thevast destruction caused by World War II. Japan’srecovery was partly linked to the historicalinterpretation of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Itsrestoration has been regarded as either the result ofpurely internal social, economic, or intellectualhistoricaldevelopments, or as the consequence ofexternal pressure.Meanwhile, at the end of the Second World War,Thailand was one of the world’s poorest countries. Itseconomy had been stagnant for at least a century and ithad suffered significant damage from the war. Mosteconomic observers of the time rated its prospects ofrecovery poorly. However, Thailand’s governmentundertook more radical planning to develop thecountry between the 1960s and the 1990s, such thatdevelopment growth was regarded as impressive withinthat period. In many documents, Thailand wasrecorded as “the fifth tiger” rivaling Korea, Taiwan,Hong Kong, and Singapore.The radical development in both nations was not onlyaffected by external factors, but also by internal ones,possibly in the form of political policy, the people’smanner of thinking, and their cultural drive to effectchanges among the populace. The radical changescould also have been influenced by long-drawn habits,which later evolved into patterns and remained in thecommunity as continuing traditions.Substantially, tradition is whatever has becomepersistent or recurrent through transmission,regardless of its substance and the institutional setting.The definition of tradition—which is handed downprimarily—is inclusive of material objects, beliefsabout various sorts of things, images of persons andevents, practices and institutions. It also includes allthat a society of a given time possesses and which hasalready existed (Edward Shills 1983, 12) 3 .Yet, ideally, development should also involve gendersensitivity, because any kind of development initiativewill affect both men and women. It is impossible tochange a community dynamic in a certain way suchthat only the men or only the women will benefit fromit. In many parts of the world, what is now alsobeginning to happen is a shift to the regard of humansas passive recipients of development, rather than asactors or producers. But development is not only aboutemphasizing the provision of facilities andinfrastructure to assist in the transition to a modern,capitalist and industrial community. 4 Fordevelopment to be sustainable, changes should not bedominated only by those factors closely associated witheconomic growth. According to sociologist NabileKabeer, who is focused on development studies,“Development studies not so much by questioning thecontent of the growth models of economists, but bysuggesting that they ‘presuppose certain social andcultural condition’s (Berstein as cited by Kabeer,2003).I use the terminology “social transformation” todescribe the sustainable process over occasions whereattitudes and values are held in a completely newparadigm, based on different assumptions and beliefs.Social transformation is a fundamental shift withregard to how society forms itself and defines equalityand participation in development, and manifests itsattitudes and values in daily life. Thus, socialtransformation is interpreted herein as a process ofchange for encouraging and promoting genderequality, without marginalizing either gender in thecourse of development. For this reason, the study didnot take the individual per se as the subject of casestudies, but the individual in light of his or being partof the social system.For the research objectives, I adopted the following:first, to identify and illustrate local traditions ineveryday living; and, second, to reflect on theirpotential to influence social transformation given theThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows