Storytellers and Storytelling in Northeast Thailand

Storytellers are still important in Northeast Thai society, but storytelling has changed. Stories are told less frequently, and only certain kinds of stories and styles are still used—and only in certain settings. Storytellers help educate listeners about ways of life, beliefs, customs, and culture inherent in the stories they tell. In a changing world, storytellers are important to the continuity of culture. This paper illustrates lives of storytellers and the situation of storytelling in Northeast Thailand. It also addresses the fundamental significance of storytelling and storytellers in Northeast Thailand by discussing the changes in storytelling within the context of social change in the modem world.