Book Description
The first full history of a great commercial and political center that rose in Asia over almost five centuries.
Author : Chris Baker
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 10,93 MB
Release : 2017-05-11
Category : History
ISBN : 1107190762
The first full history of a great commercial and political center that rose in Asia over almost five centuries.
Author : Tamara Loos
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 31,68 MB
Release : 2018-07-05
Category : History
ISBN : 1501728253
Unlike its Southeast Asian neighbors, Thailand was never colonized by an imperial power. However, Siam (as Thailand was called until 1939) shared a great deal in common with both colonized states and imperial powers: its sovereignty was qualified by imperial nations while domestically its leaders pursued European colonial strategies of juridical control in the Muslim south. The creation of family law and courts in that region and in Siam proper most clearly manifests Siam's dualistic position. Demonstrating the centrality of gender relations, law, and Siam's Malay Muslims to the history of modern Thailand, Subject Siam examines the structures and social history of jurisprudence to gain insight into Siam's unique position within Southeast Asian history. Tamara Loos elaborates on the processes of modernity through an in-depth study of hundreds of court cases involving polygyny, marriage, divorce, rape, and inheritance adjudicated between the 1850s and 1930s. Most important, this study of Siam offers a novel approach to the question of modernity precisely because Siam was not colonized yet was subject to transnational discourses and symbols of modernity. In Siam, Loos finds, the language of modernity was not associated with a foreign, colonial overlord, so it could be deployed both by elites who favored continuation of existing domestic hierarchies and by those advocating political and social change.
Author : Siam Society
Publisher :
Page : 660 pages
File Size : 30,75 MB
Release : 1923
Category : Thailand
ISBN :
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 684 pages
File Size : 48,52 MB
Release : 1905
Category : Thailand
ISBN :
Author : Craig J. Reynolds
Publisher : ANU Press
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 22,42 MB
Release : 2019-10-22
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1760463175
This biographical study of an unusual southern policeman explores the relationship between religion and power in Thailand during the early twentieth century when parts of the country were remote and banditry was rife. Khun Phan (1898–2006), known as Lion Lawman, sometimes used rather too much lethal force in carrying out his orders. He was the most famous graduate of a monastic academy in the mid-south, whose senior teachers imparted occult knowledge favoured by fighters on both sides of the law. Khun Phan imbibed this knowledge to confront the risks and uncertainty that lay ahead and bolster his confidence and self-reliance for his struggle with adversaries. Against the background of national events, the story is rooted in the mid-south where the policeman was born and died. Based on a wide range of works in Thai language, on field trips to the region and on interviews with local and regional scholars as well as the policeman’s descendants, this generously illustrated book, accompanied by short video clips, brings to life the distinctive environment of the lakes district on the Malay Peninsula.
Author : Siam Society
Publisher :
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 23,14 MB
Release : 2020-02
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9786162151569
Asian activists, organizers, critics, teachers, artists, and entrepreneurs have become passionately involved in protecting Asia's heritage. In this book, twelve principal authors from eleven of the region's countries present their experience of what has been done in the past and their ideas on what should be done in the future. Chapters cover Siam's temples, Korean religious murals, Beijing's neighborhoods, Lao textiles, Javanese ruins, Cambodian dance, old Bangkok and George Town, Philippine creative arts, Calcutta's architecture, China's salt industry, and the Burmese cat. This book records the start of a conversation that promises to transform the protection of Asia's heritage.
Author : Anna Bennett
Publisher :
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 45,8 MB
Release : 2020-02-28
Category : Art
ISBN : 9786162151576
The earliest phase of Thai history is an exciting but little understood period that bridged the gap between protohistory and the fully developed historical period. Ten international scholars examine the inception of the Dvāravatī period in the fifth century with a focus on archaeology and consider the art and architecture of the sixth to tenth centuries. Defining Dvāravatī provides an overview of the art historical characteristics of Dvāravatī style; collates the epigraphic evidence, including previously unpublished texts; considers the importance of trade and religion in cementing relationships between early Southeast Asian societies and as paramount incentives for its expansion and development; and discusses the end of the period.
Author : Shane Strate
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 24,4 MB
Release : 2015-01-31
Category : History
ISBN : 0824854373
It is a cherished belief among Thai people that their country was never colonized. Yet politicians, scholars, and other media figures chronically inveigh against Western colonialism and the imperialist theft of Thai territory. Thai historians insist that the country adapted to the Western-dominated world order more successfully than other Southeast Asian kingdoms and celebrate their proud history of independence. But many Thai leaders view the West as a threat and portray Thailand as a victim. Clearly Thailand's relationship with the West is ambivalent. The Lost Territories explores this conundrum by examining two important and contrasting strands of Thai historiography: the well-known Royal-Nationalist ideology, which celebrates Thailand's long history of uninterrupted independence; and what the author terms "National Humiliation discourse," its mirror image. Shane Strate examines the origins and consequences of National Humiliation discourse, showing how the modern Thai state has used the idea of national humiliation to sponsor a form of anti-Western nationalism. Unlike triumphalist Royal-Nationalist narratives, National Humiliation history depicts Thailand as a victim of Western imperialist bullying. Focusing on key themes such as extraterritoriality, trade imbalances, and territorial loss, National Humiliation history maintains that the West impeded Thailand's development even while professing its support and cooperation. Although the state remains the hero in this narrative, it is a tragic heroism defined by suffering and foreign oppression. Through his insightful analysis of state and media sources, Strate demonstrates how Thai politicians have deployed National Humiliation imagery in support of ethnic chauvinism and military expansion. He shows how the discourse became the ideological foundation of Thailand's irredentist strategy, the state's anti-Catholic campaign, and its acceptance of pan-Asianism during World War II; and how the "state as victim" narrative has been used by politicians to redefine Thai identity and elevate the military into the role of national savior. The Lost Territories will be of particular interest to historians and political scientists for the light it sheds on many episodes of Thai foreign policy, including the contemporary dispute over Preah Vihear. The book's analysis of the manipulation of historical memory will interest academics exploring similar phenomena worldwide.
Author : Pattana Kitiarsa
Publisher : Silkworm Books
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 16,19 MB
Release : 2012-08-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1630417572
Mediums, Monks, and Amulets is a sophisticated yet accessible study of the state of popular Buddhist beliefs as they are practiced in Thailand today. Using a combination of focused case studies and analysis, Pattana Kitiarsa explores the nature and evolution of popular Buddhism over the past three decades by focusing on those individuals who practice, popularize, and profit from it. The case studies profiled in this book include prominent spirit mediums and magic monks, the lottery fever surrounding the posthumous cult of folk singer, Phumphuang Duangchan, the Chatukham‐Rammathep amulet craze, and the cult of wealth attributed to preeminent monk, Luang Pho Khun. It also explores the history of both popular and official opinion surrounding supernatural Buddhism and its clashes with the rationalist, modernizing policies of Thailand’s monarchy and government. Mediums, Monks, and Amulets contests the viewpoint that supernatural elements within popular Buddhism are a symptom of the decline of the religion. Instead, it argues that this hybridity between traditional Buddhist beliefs and elements from other religions is in fact a symptom of the health and wealth of Buddhism, as it negotiates large‐scale commercialization and global modernity. What others are saying “Pattana Kitiarsa’s ability to weave his personal experiences in with sophisticated anthropological methods makes this book a fascinating and moving read. It is a welcome addition to the field and should be read by everyone interested in religion and modernity in Southeast Asia and beyond.”—Justin McDaniel, author of Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words (2008) and The Lovelorn Ghost and Magical Monk (2011) “Medium, Monks, and Amulets sheds light on the changing landscape of contemporary Thai religion that is increasingly influenced by ‘prosperity cults’ from both inside and outside the Buddhist establishment. This book helps us to make sense of the religious universe, where magic monks, spirit mediums, amulets, deities, and other religious commodities of different sorts keep appearing endlessly.”—Phra Paisal Visalo Highlights • Focused case studies on individual cult practices, including magic monks, spirit mediums, amulet cults, and other prosperity cults • Written by the perspective of an anthropologist who is also a follower of popular Buddhism • Discusses not only the interaction of popular Buddhist practices with modern‐day lawmakers, but also of nineteenth‐century royal interaction with supernatural cults
Author : Wasana Wongsurawat
Publisher : University of Washington Press
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 21,1 MB
Release : 2019-11-18
Category : History
ISBN : 0295746262
Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.