[Tlc] David Wyatt memorial Bangkok

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Dear All,

David Wyatt's memorial was covered on the front page of the
Nation newspaper. Please see this link and the full text below. 

Best,
justin

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/sunday/

The pathfinder

David Wyatt opened new vistas on Thai history. Four who knew
him share their personal memories and assess the legacy of a
pioneer in Siamese cultural studies

Seldom can an outsider have done so much to further the
understanding of another country’s history, especially an
outsider whose home was half a world away. But from his
unparalleled study, “Thailand: A Short History”, through to
his last book unravelling the mysteries of Thai murals,
Professor David Wyatt did just that, and, according to many
Thai historians, a whole lot more. Wyatt’s work helped clarify
our view of Thailand’s past, while exuding a passion for Thai
culture every step of the way.
  Four Thai insiders gave The Nation their thoughts on the
tremendous impact of this man from afar, and the legacy
contained in more than 60 books that he left behind when he
passed away two weeks ago.
Wyatt, 69, died of emphysema and congestive heart failure in a
retirement home in Ithaca, New York. He is survived by his
wife, Alene, three sons, Douglas, Andrew and James, and five
grandchildren.

Dr Charnvit Kasetsiri
Founder of Southeast Asian Studies Programme
Thammasat University

David Wyatt wasn’t just a “professor”, he was a teacher for us
all, and his name and work will survive for as long as Thais
feel the urge to learn about their past.
Ajarn Wyatt left us with more than 100 writings but his famous
opus, “Thailand: A Short History”, has become the definitive
introduction to Thai history. It was a leap forward from W A R
Wood’s book, “A History of Siam”, written 56 years earlier,
and it was another 23 years before Chris Baker and Pasuk
Phongpaichit attempted a similar overview with “A History of
Thailand” in 2005.
Among his important contributions to historical knowledge were
his doctoral dissertation on King Rama V, eventually published
by Yale University Press as “The Politics of Reform in
Thailand” in 1969, and his paper “Family Politics in Thailand”
dealing with the Bunnag dynasty.
This writer can still remember discovering Thai history as a
student in America, where Ajarn Wyatt’s tutorials brought to
life the conflicts, trials and trepidations of the Rama V
period. The lecture-room portrait of a young and vigorous King
Chulalongkorn inflamed his students’ interest so much that the
professor was persuaded to continue the story at a local
watering hole called Johnny’s Big Red.
Wyatt’s last contribution to the study of Thai history was as
the editor of “The Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya”, with
Richard D Cushman as translator.
Towards the end of his life, this writer received a request
for a letter from Wyatt’s wife, Alene. The following is an
extract of the letter she read out to him on November 13.
 
Just to say “Hi” from Bangkok (under strange and amazing
military rule).
I am teaching modern Thai politics and history at Chula and
Thammasat... using your long “Thailand: A Short History”, as
usual.
Best wishes my dear productive Ajarn,
 Charnvit
 
PS: Our Ayutthaya has been partly underwater for some months now.

David left us on November 14.
He can’t have imagined how much Thailand, his second home, has
changed in the past few months. Ajarn Wyatt took pains to
remind us of the “Thai virtues” that the Father of Thai
history, Prince Damrong, explained as love of independence,
tolerance, and the power of assimilation. Just how relevant
these virtues remain is being tested by recent historical events.
Chiranan Pitpreecha
1989 SeaWrite award winner

O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up – for you the flag is flung – for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths – for you the shores
a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning ...

I rendered this poem by Walt Whitman in Thai ten years ago,
but I learn the true meaning of it with the departure of my
Captain – David K Wyatt.
For four decades, the man we remember as “Ajarn Wai-aat”
(“Mighty Age” – his own Thai translation for his surname) has
contributed enormously to Thai studies in the wider world.
Those who are familiar with Wyatt’s early works may view him
as an expert on Thai dynastic histories, but in fact, his
knowledge took in everything from the history of Southeast
Asia’s mainland to local histories and social issues in the
region’s countries.
For him, the “historical evidence” had to encompass more than
documents in archives, which couldn’t provide an insight into
the culture of the largely illiterate masses. He proposed that
temple murals were a key to the mindset of people in the past.
His two recent books “Siam in Mind” (2002) and “Reading Thai
Murals” (2004) may read like anecdotes from a lifetime spent
in the field of Thai research, but they have already set an
unprecedented course for study outside the mainstream. 
As to my personal memories, I was honoured to have been both
his student and part of his “extended family”.
When I returned to Cornell in 2002 to continue my
dissertation, “The Three Horizons: Politics in Sipsong Chuthai
Borderlands 1880- 1910”, Wyatt and his wife Alene invited me
to stay with them for almost a year. Inside those four walls I
learned that yam woon-sen (glass noodle salad) formed the
basis of his love for Thai food. Normally, Alene took over
duties as chef, but occasionally he would do the honours with
his speciality, spring rolls.
At home, he was wise and witty, encouraging me to exercise my
brain with funny words and idioms in English and Thai.
My “Ithaca Daddy” also guided me through difficulties, both
academic and personal, while Alene showed me the exceptional
inner strength and heart of a woman. 
This Captain’s pioneer spirit has landed here, and will
continue to inspire Thai students to devote their intellect
and passion to their homeland.

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
>From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

Dr Sunait Chutintaranond
Director of Thai and Southeast Asian
Studies Centre,
Chulalongkorn University

It is not too much to say that Southeast Asia’s academic
circle has lost a great linguist. David K Wyatt was one of the
few Western academics able to translate ancient documents into
English for the international audience. His translations,
“Crystal Sands: The Chronicles of Nagara Sri Dharmaraja”
(1975) and “Local Legends of Chiang Mai” published by
Suriwongse Book Centre (2000), were testaments to his
linguistic genius. His translation of the “Kong Bong
Chronicle” that details the loss of the capital in BE2310
deserves to be much more widely known.
Students who worked closely with him realised he was also an
expert in the Lao and Burmese languages.
Wyatt laboured all his professional life to foster a new
generation of academics and raise the study of Thai history to
an international standard. In this regard, he was a master in
the grand tradition, sowing seeds of wisdom in Thailand.
Wyatt was tutor for my master’s and doctorate degrees at
Cornell University, and as I look back I can’t help but
appreciate the burden that he carried on his shoulders.
Building up people is more difficult and time consuming than
building a body of academic research. As a teacher, I now see
how perceptive Wyatt was – he could read his students’ minds
like his own palm, encouraging those characteristics that
would serve them in good stead. He preferred to stimulate
their native creativity rather than have them slavishly
imitate their teacher. The result was that some even went
against his works. But he respected this academic freedom,
realising that any development of ideas took time – even
monitoring his students’ growth and development from afar.
To many, Wyatt’s reputation is cemented as a great historian,
linguist and international pioneer in Thai history. But for
his students, he will remain the master who worked tirelessly
to sow seeds of wisdom for the study of Thai and Southeast
Asian history.

Trasvin Jittidecharak
Founder and publisher of
Silkworm Books and Mekong Press

Onward to glory I go

My publisher-author relationship with David Wyatt began in
1991, when Silkworm published his “Thailand: A Short History”.
After that, we saw each other every time Wyatt visited Chiang
Mai. I have no idea when and how we became so close. For my
part, I thought this Ajarn was unique. He knew many languages,
including Tua Mueang, a northern Thai script. He knew books,
computers, typefaces and fonts. He liked maps. I remember him
drawing up King Mae Ku’s trip for the Chiang Mai Chronicle. He
said, “Ha! Mae Ku went round in a circle! A good map explains
things better than a thousand words.” He was also open to
criticism. Often he would smile and retort, “Well, I’m waiting
to read a better one than mine.”
At one time, he was selecting student’s dissertations to go on
my list
for publi-cation. I was touched – not just because he wanted
to help me, but also because he always remembered and
supported his former students in their academic careers.
It is no overstatement to say that Wyatt’s bond with Thailand
went far beyond words.
Long ago he gently pushed me to reissue “The History of the
Malay Kingdom of Patani” by Ibrahim Syukri. The original book
was written in Jawi, and although the authorities banned the
last chapter of the Thai edition, they weren’t so concerned
about the English version. Later I was able to publish the
full text in Thai. Wyatt always wanted us Thais to be able to
access the information we deserve to know.
Unlike his students and colleagues, I got to know Wyatt better
in his twilight years. If any of you enjoy the sunset as I do,
you will understand how I felt – Wyatt gave me lessons one
could never learn in a classroom. He showed me the virtues and
qualities of a true scholar – humility, discipline, openness,
an eager-ness to learn from the learned
and a willingness to guide the younger generation.
I thought we would lose Wyatt after in 1999. It was a miracle
that he survived his operations then and was able to revisit
Thailand several times.
In recent times we talked more about our great love of music.
Wyatt once performed on stage in “Man of La Mancha”, playing
none other than Don Quixote. It seems fitting to me, then, to
round off these fond memories with a few verses from the musical:

Don Quixote:
I am I, Don Quixote, the Lord of la Mancha,
My destiny calls and I go,
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward,
Oh, whithersoever they blow
Onward to glory I go

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