[Tlc] T-Thai Studies Conf.

[justinm at ucr.edu]

I forward a message from Thongchai Winichakul.
Best,
justin

Dear friends who are interested in the Thai Studies Conference
2008 at Thammasat,

 

I am writing to urge those who plan to participate in the
tenth International Conference on Thai Studies Conference
(ICTS10) in Jan 2008 at Thammasat to submit proposals for
panels/ papers. www.thaiconference.tu.ac.th  There are needs
for critical scholarship in every field of Thai studies. But
for this time in particular, it is crucial that there should
be panels/ papers that address or related to the current
situation in Thailand.

 

I assume that you have heard the call for a boycott of the
conference. I am not convinced by the boycott call, but I
realize that there is no absolute reason either way. The
purpose of this message is not to argue about it. It is for
those who will attend, to ask you to help make the event as
worthwhile as we can in this circumstance.

 

The April 15 deadline for submission is approaching. I am sure
that it will be extended, as usual. But we should take the
matter seriously. A good presence of these panels that are
critical to the current situation would send a strong message
to the Thai public and would reflect the concerns of our
academic community. These critical panels/papers, I believe,
are the better way to respond to the coup/ post-coup Thailand.

 

Peter Bell and Jim Glassman are organizing a panel on the
Sufficiency Economy. We need more papers/ panels that are
critical to the coup, the military, Prem, the undemocracy, the
new and old constitutions, the judiciary, the Crown Property
Bureau, the super-conservative cultural trend and the
“Cultural Surveillance” Department, the call for Buddhism as
the National Religion, widespread censorship of internet
accesses, the crisis among Thai intelligentsia, Thai-style
democracy, the “Yellow Fever”, and the past, present and
future of the monarchy, and more.  The panels/papers may not
be exactly about the current situation but address the various
aspects related to or help us understand those current issues.

 

I assume that we understand that there is no need for a common
or single political stance on those issues. To challenge the
undemocratic situation, the most important thing is the
critical discussions on those issues in public as open and as
much as possible.

 

If you have been working on a panel, please send the proposal
to the organizer ASAP www.thaiconference.tu.ac.th . In
addition, I volunteer to act as an organizer to help create
these panels. Anybody wants to present an individual paper on
any of these subjects, or know somebody else who may do it,
please inform me. Please tell me what topics you/ they want to
do. I will try to match and make up panels (except the
Sufficiency Economy that Peter and Jim are doing). I will
write an abstract for each panel and submit it. If there is
anything else I can help to put forward as many panels on
those issues as possible, please let me know.

 

I had an opportunity last week to talk to the organizer of the
ICTS10. They confirmed that the conference is an academic
event and those proposals would be accepted. Ji Ungpakorn’s
proposal against the coup was already accepted. There is no
plan for a special celebration of anything beyond a typical
Thai event of this scale – such as the opening by the
Princess. How reliable those words are -- it is up to us to test.

 

Of course, papers/ panels on other subjects are very important
and very much needed as well for a conference on every aspect
of Thai studies. Please submit to the organizer ASAP. (I
myself am trying to organize one that has nothing to do with
the current situation.)

 

If there is a need for an urgent response to an unforeseeable
happening by the time we get there, I am sure some actions
there would be effective, perhaps even louder, as well. 

 

Thongchai Winichakul

11 April 2007


______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu