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During the past four decades an impressive corpus of manuscripts and epigraphical material in Thailand, Laos, and adjacent Tai-speaking areas has been surveyed, documented, and digitized. Scholarly interest in this material has not been restricted to philological and historical studies of the texts contained in manuscripts and inscriptions but has extended to its material aspects, which encompass manuscripts written on palm-leaf, various forms of paper, cloth, bamboo, and other organic material, and inscriptions on stone, metal, and wood. In Manuscript Cultures and Epigraphy of the Tai World, Volker Grabowsky seeks to explore the production, use, and transmission of manuscripts both as containers of traditional knowledge and as objects used in daily life, rituals, and ceremonies. Particular emphasis is given to the relationship between manuscripts and inscriptions, as both have influenced each other to no small degree. Through a comprehensive look at the Tai-language literature's chronological and synchronic development, readers will learn the social importance of these literary productions.

In Music and Recording in King Chulalongkorn's Bangkok, James Leonard Mitchell provides the first comprehensive history of Siamese music during the celebrated reign of Rama V. Following up on his previous exploration of Thailand's most popular music genre, luk thung, Mitchell focuses on the brief period from 1903 to 1910 when gramophone recording came to Siam and almost failed to capture valuable performances. Compiling research from the EMI Archive in London and the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, along with years of fieldwork in Thailand, the book contains eighty-eight photographs, a discography of all known recordings from the era, and links to YouTube videos. This compelling volume reveals a story of Siamese musicians, European recording experts, and Chinese middlemen that will be of interest to scholars of Asian studies and music history.

Southeast Asia is renowned for birds' nests and the bird's nest trade. A bird's nest is often referred to as "White Gold" or "the Caviar of the East." In Birds' Nests: Business and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia, Kasem Jandam explores the history of using birds' nests and outlines key aspects of the business: consumption and its impact on ecology and the environment, market innovations, and the legal system related to public, private, community, and nonexclusive economic nesting resources. This book also discusses the trade and relationships among ethnic groups and the influence of Hong Kong's bird's nest market on the bird's nest business in Thailand and Southeast Asia.

In this first full-length study on the topic, Matthew Hunt¿with access to rare and controversial films¿provides a history of film censorship in Thailand. Hunt outlines its beginnings in the country, when films were censored by the police for political and ideological reasons, rather than on the basis of taste and decency, to the present when issues such as politics, religion, and sex are the main reasons films are banned. He also examines how Thai filmmakers approach culturally sensitive subjects and how their films have been censored as a result. Hunt presents interviews with ten leading directors, including conversations with Thai New Wave veterans Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. In these interviews, the directors discuss their most controversial films, which range from mainstream studio movies to independent arthouse releases, and explain their responses to censorship.

A play about one woman's audacious crusade to fight the AIDS epidemic and the pharmaceutical industry's unyielding control over lifesaving drugs.

This pioneering work traces the history and evolution of the textiles of Myanmar (Burma) made and used by the Burman (Bama) ethnic majority. Written accessibly, it covers the importance of textiles in many contexts as well as changes and innovation brought about by trade and conflict with neighboring states, British colonization, postwar isolation, and recent ¿open-door¿ policies. In addition to visiting the major textile centers, Sylvia Fraser-Lu ventured into the more remote areas of the Burman heartland to garner information on lesser-known textiles and those made by minorities.Profusely illustrated with on-site and archival photographs of weavers and heirloom textiles, as well as with diagrams and sketches, this book will be an important reference for textile scholars and art historians and for those interested in Burman culture.

This first-of-its-kind city map will guide you as you explore these sights, taking you down alleyways, tree-lined promenades, and major thoroughfares to uncover the historical and architectural significance of Yangon's breathtaking landmarks.

Highly regarded as an important part of the poetic heritage of Thailand, The Story of King Law received royal acclaim in 1914 and is included in official school curricula. All students of Thai literature memorize parts of it and retain them for decades. The story has been extolled as beautiful and deeply moving poetry, with admirable and virtuous protagonists. It has also been vilified as undignified vulgarity, as a piece of ancient titillation unworthy of attention in the modern day. And, for admirers and critics alike, it has proven to be a source of great confusion and unresolvable obscurity. Robert Bickner uses comparative and historical linguistics as the foundation for his examination and interpretation of the poem and with this translation guides readers through the many complexities of this fascinating text.

Kings in Love: Lilit Phra Lo and Twelve Months (Thawathotsamat) are among the earliest works of Thai literature. These translations by an award-winning team aim to convey not only the meaning of the Thai originals but also their beauty and emotional power. Lilit Phra Lo is a long narrative poem with an unusual romance, a contest of rival magic, an erotic climax, and a blood-soaked ending. It has been condemned as feudal and indulgent, but celebrated for its flowing poetry and emotional power. Twelve Months, a passionate lament for a lost lover, was once greatly acclaimed but has been quietly sidelined for being ¿too erotic.¿ Each poem has an afterword tracing the work¿s origins, structure, publication history, and critical reception. Though rooted in Thai culture, both poems speak to universal themes and have echoes in world literature.

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 Dv¿ravat¿ period in the fifth century with a focus on archaeology and consider the art and architecture of the sixth to tenth centuries. Defining Dv¿ravat¿ provides an overview of the art historical characteristics of Dv¿ravat¿ 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.

Asian activists, organizers, critics, teachers, artists, and entrepreneurs have become passionately involved in protecting Asiäs 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, Calcuttäs architecture, Chinäs salt industry, and the Burmese cat. This book records the start of a conversation that promises to transform the protection of Asiäs heritage.

The paintings of contemporary Thai artist Pichai Nirand (b. 1936) are a vivid exploration of the interplay between Thailand¿s Buddhist roots and its modern aspirations and struggles. Pichai engages fully with the world and belief system around him. Accompanying the full-color paintings is an incisive examination of the Thai moral and social themes of Pichai¿s paintings in terms of the Buddhist cycle of life. Philip Constable¿s sensitive analysis of the social, political, economic, and moral dimensions affecting the artist, coupled with careful reference to other contemporary Thai artists, illuminates the deep meaning and expression behind each painting. This book showcases a celebrated Thai artist who has spent a lifetime providing a Thai Buddhist perspective on the dilemmas and contradictions of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Written by a multinational team of experts who deploy their disciplinary strengths in history, sociology, social anthropology, political science, and philology to analyze a wide range of sources, including royal chronicles, missionary dictionaries, colonial archival documents, audio- and videotapes, and face-to-face interviews, Armies and Societies in Southeast Asia adds to the small but growing body of publications on warfare in Southeast Asia and colonial armies. Military-society relations are examined in a wide range of ways: traditional strategies of augmenting populations, mutinies, and mutiny attempts, imperial anxieties, Japanese military legacies, the transoceanic experiences of Southeast Asian and European soldiers, postwar demobilizations and postconflict biographies, and the transformation of communist guerrillas into guardians of the state and their development of capitalist enterprises.This volume will be of interest to Southeast Asianists and military historians alike as it not only covers traditional territorial grounds, thematic terrains, and temporal landscapes but also extends to individuals and further includes the national, regional, and transnational lives of military institutions.

Over a long and productive career, Charles ¿Biff¿ Keyes carried out research, taught, and forged links between scholars and institutions in the United States, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. His work has focused on religious practice, ethnicity and national cultures, transformation of rural society, and political culture. An enduring theme in his writing has been the role of Buddhism in everyday life in mainland Southeast Asia. His new memoir illustrates the significance of the Buddhist emphasis on impermanence (anicca) and demonstrates how this principle has shaped his own life.A graduate of Cornell University, Keyes conducted his first fieldwork in a village in northeast Thailand, followed by research in Mae Sariang on the Thai-Myanmar border. In addition to his long career at the University of Washington, he taught at Chiang Mai University and Maha Sarakham University. Keyes made teaching a priority, training graduate students from Thailand and Vietnam. A leading figure in both anthropology and Southeast Asian studies, he served as the president of the Association of Asian Studies and encouraged international scholarship.

Traces the origins of the red-shirt protest, focusing on the unique voices, stories, and motives of those who participated in the movement

Grant Evans is reader in anthropology at the University of Hong Kong.

This volume includes 17 short stories by contemporary Thai writer Khamsing Srinawk. These entertaining stories form a window through which to glimpse the unpretentious yet heroic lives of rural Thai villagers in the second half of the 20th century.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a world-renowned, inspirational symbol of Burmese resistance and courage. But is it possible for Suu Kyi to mend the deep divisions in Burmese society? Who are the groups that make up Burma's face of resistance? This book explores these questions.

In this book, eighteen Chinese women tell how they came to sell sex in Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Los Angeles, and New York. The women¿s candid stories put a human face on issues of globalized commercial sex and provide a raw, inside view of the money-driven transnational sex industry. The author, an expert in the field of criminal justice, frames their personal accounts with contextual details and incisive commentary to provide a rich understanding of the realities and myths of prostitution and global sex trafficking. While the interviews were gathered as part of an extensive research project for the author¿s 2012 book, Selling Sex Overseas, the full accounts are published here for the first time. The women describe, in their own words, what motivated them to leave China to work in the sex trade abroad, how much they earn, what hardships they face, and what they hope for in the future.

The cultural heritage of Siam is exceptionally rich and distinctive. As everywhere, this heritage is under threat from the pace of change and from the demands of tourism, mismanagement, and neglect. This book examines the value of Siam's heritage and the need to protect it.

Brings together original, small-scale, ethnographic research on minorities, displaced people, and communities contesting heritage, livelihood, language, and citizenship in Thailand.

Thai national artist Thawan Duchanee has spent his life creating art that deeply reflects Buddhist philosophy. Often told in his own words, this book offers insights into Thawan's creative genius, explores his philosophy on the arts, examines his famous signature, and recounts his life story.

The lost civilization of Angkor left no written records, leaving only ancient stones to tell the tale. This book exposes the history of this Southeast Asian empire through the secrets hidden inside the temples and buildings located around the city of Siem Reap.

An intimate and unusual view of historical Southeast Asia as a society of cosmopolitan cities, mobile communities, and fluid local politics.

Toshihiro Abe is professor of sociology at Otani University. He has written on transitional justice, migration, and social movements in South Africa and Cambodia.

Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit have written on Thailand¿s history, economy, politics, and culture, and have translated academic and literary works including The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen and Yuan Phai. In 2017 they were jointly awarded the Fukuoka Grand Prize.