Rennesson, Stéphane <br/><br/>
Martial Arts, International Sports, and Cultural Commodities 

 -  2009.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 91 
<br/><br/> This articles adopts a historical perspective and makes use of recent ethnographic data to discuss the way in which Thai boxing ( muay thai) has ceased to be a corpus of bare-hands martial techniques to become a wide range of practices that emerged in the framework of a dialogue between Siam, Thailand, and eventually the rest of the world, and in particular of Western world. In the course of this evolution, the athletic apparatus and the mode of institutionalization of muay thai have not only evolved according to the important political and diplomatic partitioning that this national sport has played in the eyes of the Thai authorities since the 19th century. The fundamental characteristics of Thai boxing in terms of its codification of violence have also contributed to turning each of its versions into the variant of a specifically Thai model of political relationships proper. This has established a necessary linkage between a specific population and muay thay, and the cultural industry that the latter has now become is bound to expand beyond the boundaries of the Thai nation state in order to operate as such.