Royalism and the Crisis of Elite Governance in Thailand: An Interview with Thongchai Winichakul and Pavin Chachavalpongpun

In May 2014, the Royal Thai Armed Forces launched a coup to establish a junta called the National Council for Peace and Order. In this interview, Social Transformations editor Lisandro Claudio (LC) speaks to historian Thongchai Winichakul (TW) of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Political Scientist Pavin Chachavalpongpun (PC) of Kyoto University to examine the simmering tensions the undergird the military take over

Branding Dissent: Nitirat, Thailand’s Enlightened Jurists

This article examines the political role of a group of academic lawyers based at Thammasat University who have been seeking to reform various aspects of the Thai legal and judicial system. The seven-member group started out by criticising the illegality of the 2006 coup. After the 2010 crackdown against redshirt protestors, the group named itself Nitirat and started to hold seminars, draft legal proposals, and campaign to amend various laws. Nitirat has repeatedly challenged the legal and constitutional underpinnings of three key elements of the Thai state: the judiciary, the military, and the monarchy. In doing so, the group has gained a mass following, drawn mainly from those sympathetic to the “redshirt” movement which broadly supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Informally led by scholar Worajet Pakeerat, Nitirat has created a popular branding which is reflected in huge audiences for public events, and the sales of souvenirs. The article aims to answer the following questions: How does Nitirat combine the roles of legal academic and political activist? How does it differ from the traditional mode of Thai public intellectuals? How significant is the Nitirat phenomenon

Siam mapped : a history of the geo-body of Siam

Nationhood or a nation is a powerful denomination for modern human beings. In the case of Siam, the hegemony over the interpretation of Thainess is also crucial for power relations in the society. This study aims at examining how an identification of nationhood was formulated, through various moments of confrontation and displacement of discourses. Even the most concrete identification of Siam, such as its territory and related values and practices, all of which I term the "geo-body", was discursively created in the nineteenth century

Luncheon/Presidential Address: Significance of Language and Translation in Asian Studies across Academies

The scholarship on Asia that were produced in various academies are different. Language and translation are significant factors in the relationship (transmission, mediation, appropriation, etc.) among those academies and the knowledge they produce

Entrevue avec Thongchai Winichakul

I try to be systematic but I cannot. I published a diagram on Thai democracy in the Journal of Contemporary Asia in 2008. In this diagram, I represent the history of democracy in Thailand in 3 series: 1/ From absolute monarchy to “democracy”: monarchists versus commoners (1868-1949). Central issue: The role and power of the monarchy in democracy. Result: the monarchy is politically “above” (= out, beyond, away from politics) 2/ Military versus Parliamentary democracy (liberals + royalists) (1..