Seditious Histories: Contesting Thai And Southeast Asian Pasts - Craig J. Reynolds - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

This collection of eleven essays by senior Asianist Craig J. Reynolds features debates about meaning in Southeast Asian and Thai history. This is a seminal work, addressed to young scholars coming into the fields of Southeast Asian and Thai history, as well as to current scholars and teachers working in the various disciplines of political science, anthropology, history, sociology, and philosophy.

Thai South and Malay North - - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

The portion of the Malay Peninsula where the Thai Buddhist civilization of Thailand gives way to the Malay Muslim civilization of Malaysia is characterized by multiple forms of pluralism. This book examines a broad range of issues relating to the turmoil afflicting the region.

Worshipping the Great Moderniser - Irene Stengs - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

An examination of social imaginary surrounding Thai kingship and Thainess that yield an intriguing amalgam of ideas concerning popular religion, Buddhist kingship, nationalism, and material culture. It explores the contemporary appeal of King Chulalongkorn and considers what this ruler's unprecedented popularity says about Thai society.

Ghosts of the Past in Southern Thailand - - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

At the heart of the ongoing armed conflict in southern Thailand is a fundamental agreement about the history of relations between the Patani Malays and the Thai kingdom. While the Thai royalist-nationalist version of history regards Patani as part of that kingdom ""since time immemorial,"" Patani Malay nationalists look back to a golden age when the Sultanate of Patani was an independent, prosperous trading state and a renowned center for Islamic education and scholarship in Southeast Asia - a time before it was defeated, broken up, and brought under the control of the Thai state. While still influential, in recent years these diametrically opposed views of the past have begun to make way for more nuanced and varied interpretations. Patani scholars, intellectuals and students now explore their history more freely and confidently than in the past, while the once-rigid Thai nationalist narrative is open to more pluralistic interpretations. There is growing interaction and dialogue between historians writing in Thai, Malay and English, and engagement with sources and scholarship in other languages, including Chinese and Arabic. In this volume, 13 scholars who have worked on this sensitive region evaluate the current state of current historical writing about the Patani Malays of southern Thailand. The essays in this book demonstrate that an understanding of the conflict must take into account the historical dimensions of relations between Patani and the Thai kingdom, and the ongoing influence of these perceptions on Thai state officials, the militants, and the local population.

Rethinking Thailand's Southern Violence - - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

Since January 2004, the three Muslim-dominated provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat in the Thai south have been ablaze with political violence. This title examines the reasons behind the unrest in south Thailand from a variety of perspectives.

Industrialization with a Weak State - Somboon Siriprachai - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

This volume of collected essays by Somboon Siriprachai offers a critical assessment of Thai industrialisation with a focus on industrial policy, rent seeking and income inequality. An economist by training, Somboon saw the Thai state as authoritarian rather than developmental, and criticised the adoption of policies that were oriented toward increasing government revenue instead of nurturing industrial development. While these policies achieved growth, they did not strengthen Thailand's technological ability and industrial skills, or promote research and development. Somboon disputed the World Bank's classification of Thailand as a Newly Industrialising Economy (NIE), backing his argument with empirical evidence and comparisons with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The success of these East Asian countries, he suggested, rested on the competence of the state to direct the accumulation process rather than reliance on any particular strategy for industrialisation. Arguing that growth of industrial productivity is the key to a country's living standard and its ability to compete in the world market, he argued that government intervention was essential to successful late-comer industrialisation. Combining institutional economics with a historical perspective, Somboon's work provides a unique analysis of the transition of the Thai economy from around the mid-nineteenth century until 2000. His essays are a unique and valuable contribution not only to Thai studies but also to the study of economic development of late-comer countries and the role of the state in that process.

Love, Money and Obligation - Patcharin Lapanun - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

Explores Thai women–farang men marriages, and complicates the bimodal views about materiality and intimacy within global intimacies. Focusing on the 'local end' of transnational connections, Lapanun states that women with farang husbands have created a new 'class' determined by their distinctive consumption patterns and life styles.

Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand - Ross King - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

Using Thailand as a case study, Ross King examines the role of place in the formation of identity through memory. Employing the idea of French historian Pierre Nora that because we no longer live in environments of memory—places where the past is still vividly alive—we compensate by attaching ourselves to sites of memory, King explores whether Thailand offers an alternative vision, a place where modernity and heritage coexist. He looks closely at the myths of ancient Thai cities, the remaining royal palaces, historical monuments, small towns and villages, and the proliferating slums of Bangkok in order to create a unique and nuanced perspective of contemporary Thailand and its many ideas of Thai identity.

Waterways of Bangkok - Mike Hurley - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

An elegantly written work that seamlessly draws connections between water, cities, landscape, and historical memory throughout Thailand. The Chao Phraya River is a maternal being at the heart of the metropolis of Bangkok. Before the invention of Thailand, the river shaped life in Siam. Even today, although many canals have become roads, the river is a vital aspect of urban infrastructure. This account examines the complexities of memory along the waterways, where towers of concrete rise over a realm of boats and hovels, merchants and war captives, temples, and ghosts. Written at a time of intense political turmoil, as the long-reigning king was dying, this book brings the reader into the cultural life of the waterways and offers alternate perspectives on the Thai past, present, and future. As an ethnographic study of the riverine landscape, this is also an exploration of the fissures in collective memory. Deeply evocative of place and time, with extensive use of Thai-language sources—set against a background of state-promoted stories and entrenched military power—Waterways of Bangkok invites readers to look beyond stagnating images and reconsider the meanings of “Thai” and “Thailand.”

Isan Writers, Thai Literature - Martin B. Platt - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

Unequal Thailand - - Bog - NUS Press - Plusbog.dk

Extreme inequalities in income,wealth and power lie behind Thailand’s political turmoil. What are the sources of this inequality? Why does it persist, or even increase when the economy grows? How can it be addressed? The contributors to this important study - Thai scholars, reformers and civil servants - shed light on the many dimensions of inequality in Thailand.