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Exploration and Irony in Studies of Siam over Forty Years: 63 (Studies on Southeast Asia)

Exploration and Irony in Studies of Siam over Forty Years: 63 (Studies on Southeast Asia)

by Benedict R. O'G. Anderson (Author), Tamara Loos (Author)

  • New

    Illustrated 2016

    $180.69
Synopsis

Benedict R. O'G. Anderson is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on the politics and cultures of Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. His early studies of Indonesia led to the publication of Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, a book that profoundly changed the way people understand modern states. Banned from returning to Indonesia after his interpretation of the 1965 coup was published, Anderson shifted his attention to Thailand. This collection of essays gathers in one book Anderson's iconoclastic analyses of Siam (Thailand), its political institutions and bloody upheavals, its literature, authors, and contemporary cinema.

The volume begins with the challenging essay Studies of the Thai State: The State of Thai Studies, followed by chapters that map shifts of power between the Left and Right in Thailand, the role of the monarchy, and the significance of the military. The final essays track Anderson's own evolution as a student of Siam and his growing, more playful interest in billboards, ephemera, and film. Together, these works demonstrate an extraordinary scholar's commitment to exploring Thailand.

$180.69

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
 Pages: 200
 Edition: Illustrated
 Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 09 Sep 2016
ISBN 10: 0877277931
ISBN 13: 9780877277934

Media Reviews

Combining bold ideas, unflinching critique, and irresistible narratives that weave togetherstatistics, qualitative examples, and suggestive anecdotes, each of these essays demonstratesin quintessential Andersonian fashion the full power of the essay form for serious scholarlywriting. Though originally published between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, they continueto resonate and, more importantly, remind one of the increasingly rare thrill that can be hadreading academic writing. . . .Putting the Kingdom's cultural heritage under criticalspotlight, as he does in [the]later pieces, Anderson hits where it hurts, perhaps more sothan with any political critique. --Samoson Lim, Asian Studies Review (March 2016)


Benedict R. O'G. Anderson often sees a Thailand that others do not. He makes observations and asks questions that are unexpected, unsettling, and disturbing to those of us who study Thailand. His writings in this book not only are about Thai politics and society since the 1960s to the present day, they also exemplify the art of questioning and of introducing puzzlements that often get into my head and refuse to leave, causing me headaches for years. --Thongchai Winichakul, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation

Author Bio
Benedict R. O'G. Anderson is the Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor Emeritus of International Studies, Government, and Asian Studies at Cornell University. His works include Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia, and The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World. Tamara Loos is Associate Professor of History and Southeast Asian Studies at Cornell University. She is the author of Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand and Bones around My Neck: The Life and Exile of a Prince Provocateur, both from Cornell.