Scholarship and Engagement in Mainland Southeast Asia

by Oscar Salemink (Editor), Michael Herzfeld (Afterword)

Overview

This book contains nine contributions at the intersection of scholarship, activism, and sociocultural politics in mainland Southeast Asia, inspired by the remarkable career of Achan Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, an academic who has worked tirelessly in Thailand and beyond to foster critical social-science scholarship that engages with marginalized communities. The research in this volume is both highly personal and academically rigorous, born out of the authors’ experiences studying and working with communities and individuals who are too easily pushed to the margins of mainstream politics and culture, including Khmu migrant laborers, Wa communities in Shan State, meditating Thai hermits, and the fighters and bystanders in the complex violence in southern Thailand, among others. This willingness to support such underprivileged groups through meticulous scholarship is a hallmark of the engaged scholarly activism Achan Chayan has spent a lifetime encouraging.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9786162151187
Publisher:	Silkworm Books
Publication date:	01/02/2017
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Oscar Salemink is professor of anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. Contributors: Charles Keyes, Olivier Evrard, Katherine Bowie, Christopher M. Joll, Shigeharu Tanabe, Rosalia Sciortino, Ronald D. Renard, and Mandy Sadan

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction Oscar Salemink 1

Part 1 The Scholarly Activism of Chayan

1 Chayan Vaddhanaphuti: Exemplary Scholar-Activist Charles Keyes 15

Part 2 Politics, Activism, and Cross-Border Politics in the Greater Mekong Subregion

3 Highlanders' Mobility and Colonial Anxieties: A Political History of the Khmu Laborers in Siam Olivier Evrard 33

3 A Mat-Weaving Cooperative and a Military Coup: The Challenges of Fieldwork in the 1970s in Thailand Katherine Bowie 65

4 Revisiting Ethnic and Religious Factors in Thailand's Southern Discomfort Christopher M. Joll 91

5 Resistance through Meditation: Hermits of King's Mountain in Northern Thailand Shigeharu Tanabe 115

Part 3 Scholarly Activism in the Greater Mekong Subregion

6 "Learning Across Boundaries": Grantmaking Activism in the Greater Mekong Subregion Rosalia Sciortino 141

7 Scholarship, Expertise, and the Regional Politics of Heritage Oscar Salemink 167

8 The Rise and Fall of UNODC's Alternative Development Program Ronald D. Renard 197

9 Meeting Educational Needs in Marginal Areas of the State: Reflections on Research in Myanmar Mandy Sadan 221

Afterword: Modest Reflections on Extraordinary Virtue: Chayan Vaddhanaphuti and the Ethics of Engaged Scholarship Michael Herzfeld 243

Contributors 253