Isan Writers, Thai Literature

Isan Writers, Thai Literature PDF Author: Martin B. Platt
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9971696975
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Regional characteristics and regional language feature prominently in discussions of Thai identity, but there is little mention of regional literatures. In northeastern Thailand's Isan region, authors write primarily in Thai, but it is possible nonetheless to identify an Isan literature, which played a significant and at times pivotal role in the development of Thai literature in the second half of the twentieth century, as authors grappled with how their origins and experiences related to the Thai centre. Martin Platt's account of Isan literature is an important first step toward a broader study of regional literatures in Thailand, and shapes a model that has relevance for examining literary works in other Asian countries.

Isan Writers, Thai Literature

Isan Writers, Thai Literature PDF Author: Martin B. Platt
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9971696975
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Regional characteristics and regional language feature prominently in discussions of Thai identity, but there is little mention of regional literatures. In northeastern Thailand's Isan region, authors write primarily in Thai, but it is possible nonetheless to identify an Isan literature, which played a significant and at times pivotal role in the development of Thai literature in the second half of the twentieth century, as authors grappled with how their origins and experiences related to the Thai centre. Martin Platt's account of Isan literature is an important first step toward a broader study of regional literatures in Thailand, and shapes a model that has relevance for examining literary works in other Asian countries.

Monsoon Country

Monsoon Country PDF Author: Pira Sudham
Publisher: Proglen Trading Co., Ltd.
ISBN: 6164560446
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Pira Sudham's 1988 classic Monsoon Country NEW 2022 EDITION It is hard to overstate the impact that Pira's Monsoon Country had on the outside world when it was first published in 1988. Regarded as a classic by many, yet is was classic in a genre of just one novel. Pira Sudham and Monsoon Country are close to unique in so many ways. He wrote in the English and never published novels or short stories in his native Thai language. A justifiable comparison could be made to Joseph Conrad writing almost a century before. He came from a peasant family in the northeast, the country's poorest region where a third of Thailand's population live. With Monsoon Country there was suddenly an international voice for the peasants, long exploited by both governments and provincial godfathers. The story tracks Pira's own life, a poor youngster taken to Bangkok as a temple boy and winning scholarships to end up studying English in Thailand's leading university followed by overseas universities in New Zealand, Australia and England. Many kids born in this century, growing up in NE Thailand wouldn't recognize the 1960s and 1970s region called Isan. (Sometimes Esarn, Issan, Isaan and other spellings.) Their grandparents would know the life lived in poverty well. Young girls moving to Bangkok to work in its notorious nightlife industry in order to support their parents and siblings. Development has taken place. The inequality and local godfathers may still be there, but now politicians and army generals have to remember the insurgency of the 60s and 70s and at least pay lip service to improving the living standards in Thailand's largest region. Maybe, again like Conrad, English being a second language forces authors to be meticulous in their use of the language and finding the exact right words and phrases to use. If you have never read Monsoon Country, or last read it back when it was first published, now is a good time to read it for the first or second time to see why it was so widely praised back then. Pira is still with us and living back in his home village. The sequel to Monsoon Country, 2002's The Force of Karma has a new final chapter written in 2022 bringing the story up-to-date. There are good reasons why Pira Sudham is regarded internationally as the leading Thai author of his generation. "With his rich command of the English language Pira Sudham possesses the unique gift of being able to convey the cultural evolution of Thailand through the eyes of a poor farmer’s son. Pira’s insightful observations make fascinating reading and the lad who once tended buffaloes has become a significant voice for the people of the Northeast." Roger Crutchley, Bangkok Post columnist and author of The Road to Nakhon Nowhere

Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations

Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations PDF Author: James B. Minahan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
This book addresses the numerous national movements of ethnic groups around the world seeking independence, more self-rule, or autonomy—movements that have proliferated exponentially in the 21st century. In the last 15 years, globalization, religious radicalization, economic changes, endangered cultures and languages, cultural suppression, racial tensions, and many other factors have stimulated the emergence of autonomy and independence movements in every corner of the world—even in areas formerly considered immune to self-government demands such as South America. Researching the numerous ethnic groups seeking autonomy or independence worldwide previously required referencing many specialized publications. This book makes this difficult-to-find information available in a single volume, presented in a simple format accessible to everyone, from high school readers to scholars in advanced studies programs. The book provides an extensive update to Greenwood's Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World that was published more than a decade earlier. Each ethnic group receives an alphabetically organized entry containing information such as alternate names, population figures, flag or flags, geography, history, culture, and languages. All the information readers need to understand the motivating factors behind each movement and the current situation of each ethnic group is presented in a compact summary. Fact boxes at the beginning of each entry enable students to quickly access key information, and consistent entry structure makes for easy cross-cultural comparisons.

Mekong Kids

Mekong Kids PDF Author: Khemachat
Publisher: Silkworm Books
ISBN: 1943932050
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Tubby, nine-year-old Boom lives in a village in northeastern Thailand on the Mekong River. As he rides to school in his trishaw every morning, the other boys yell at him and call him names. Boom has no friends. How do you make friends? he wonders. Things begin to change when his mother takes him to a festival at the village school where she teaches. Boom helps his team win the tug-of-war competition, and he ends up with a friend! One friend brings more friends. Boom’s days become very full—swimming in the river, camping out, hunting lizards, playing football—and it is Boom’s goodness that helps create a network of close friends within and beyond his village community. Mekong Kids is a translation of Luk Mae Nam Khong (ลูกแม่น้ำโขง) (2001), the award-winning Thai-language novel. Highlights • The main character learns to take responsibility for his actions, overcome his fears, bridge barriers, and help enemies become friends. He displays integrity, thoughtfulness, loyalty, kindness, sincerity, and courage. • Friendship is shown to override social and national barriers. • The distinctive setting of northeastern Thailand adds rich cultural themes. • A map, cultural notes, discussion questions, and a glossary are included.

Bangkok Bound

Bangkok Bound PDF Author: Ellen Boccuzzi
Publisher: Silkworm Books
ISBN: 162840566X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
With the acceleration of global migration, literature by migrant writers has emerged as a powerful medium for describing the ways in which global forces are experienced at the personal level. Migrant literature offers a compelling counter‐narrative to abstract visions of globalization, grounding large‐scale processes in real‐life stories of individuals. In Thailand, migrant writers have documented the social and cultural impacts of fifty years of rural‐urban migration through hundreds of stories, poems, and novels. Bangkok Bound is the first book to examine this body of literature and the messages that Thai migrant writers convey about their experiences. These stories powerfully describe the ways in which migrants who leave their homes bound for Bangkok are quickly bound to Bangkok through the transformative force of modern city life. And they show the ways in which those who remain behind in the village are transformed, too, as they struggle to maintain a rural way of life in a rapidly urbanizing world. Bangkok Bound will be of interest to anyone working on migration or urbanization, as well as to scholars of Thailand and Thai literature. Specialists in migration will find it a welcome addition to the growing field of migration studies through examination of narrative fiction. What others are saying “This is an engaging and authoritative study of literary representations of migration from the provinces to Bangkok based on wide reading of short stories written over the last four decades and interviews with major writers and critics. It will be of interest not only to students of literature, but also to anyone interested in social change in Thailand in the late twentieth century and the way that it has been perceived and recorded by local writers.” —David Smyth, SOAS, University of London Highlights - Useful for an introductory course on Thai or Southeast Asian studies; offers a springboard for conversations on development, rural‐urban inequality, migration, and the impacts of rapid urbanization in Asia - First book to examine the theme of migration in Thai literature, a significant contemporary genre - Contributes to the growing field of migration studies through examination of narrative fiction - Provides a window into how migration and urbanization are experienced at the personal level of interest to migration scholars as well as scholars of Thailand, Thai cultural studies, and Thai literature

A Civilized Woman

A Civilized Woman PDF Author: Susan Fulop Kepner
Publisher: Silkworm Books
ISBN: 1630418188
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Boonlua Debyasuvarn was born to a noble Siamese family in 1911 and not only witnessed, but participated in, the great events of her century. She was talented, intelligent, and determined to make her own place in the world beyond Thewet Palace, her family home. After the 1932 overthrow of the absolute monarchy, M.L. Boonlua became one of the first Thai women to earn a university degree. As an official in the Ministry of Education, she worked tirelessly to improve education within the kingdom and represent Thailand at international education conferences. She was a greatly respected teacher of literature and was much cherished for her charm, wit, and eminently quotable remarks. Her essays on literature became the foundation of modern Thai literary criticism and her novels are now recognized as unique social histories of the times in which she lived. Lucid and sensitive, this engaging biography documents Boonlua’s life within the context of her society and the enormous changes her country was going through in her lifetime. What Others Are Saying “An intimate view of an extraordinary life. M.L. Boonlua’s passage from precocious child of an aristocratic lineage under the absolute monarchy to fiery debater in the liberal explosion after 1973 cuts across the social upheavals of twentieth-century Thailand. Susan Kepner succeeds in conveying the sheer complexity of her life, resulting in not only a fine biography and literary appreciation but also a unique essay in social history.”—Chris Baker, historian and writer, co-translator of The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen “This is not only an excellent biography of a unique Siamese lady, but it is also a wonderful social history of Siam from the reign of Rama VI to the end of the twentieth century. Anyone who wants to understand the subtleties of Thai culture and the delicacies of personal interaction should not fail to read this book.”—S. Sivaraksa, a Thai public intellectual

Teardrops of Time

Teardrops of Time PDF Author: Arnika Fuhrmann
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 143848075X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Focusing on one of the most significant poets of the twentieth century, Angkarn Kallayanapong (1926–2012), this book makes a unique contribution to understandings of non-Western literary modernity. Arnika Fuhrmann investigates how the Thai poet adapts Buddhist understandings of time to create a modern Asian aesthetic imaginary. While Angkarn's poetry conjures the image of an early modern Thai cosmopolitanism, it also pioneers a poetics reflective of present-day globalization. The result is an experiment in Buddhist cosmopolitan aesthetic modernity. Teardrops of Time contextualizes the poet's work in the literary history and cultural politics of his time, tracing the transformation of a modern Thai cultural and political imaginary through the political history of the country's authoritarian governance since the late 1950s and the exigencies of an increasingly globalized economy since the 1980s. As Angkarn's work aligns itself with contemporaneous global trends in poetry, the book reads it alongside the work of Paul Celan and Allen Ginsberg.

Citizen Designs

Citizen Designs PDF Author: Eli Elinoff
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 082488826X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
What does it mean to design democratic cities and democratic citizens in a time of mass urbanization and volatile political transformation? Citizen Designs: City-Making and Democracy in Northeastern Thailand addresses this question by exploring the ways that democratic urban planning projects intersect with emerging political aspirations among squatters living in the northeastern Thai city of Khon Kaen. Based on ethnographic and historical research conducted since 2007, Citizen Designs describes how residents of Khon Kaen’s railway squatter communities used Thailand’s experiment in participatory urban planning as a means of reimagining their citizenship, remaking their communities, and acting upon their aspirations for political equality and the good life. It also shows how the Thai state used participatory planning and design to manage both situated political claims and emerging politics. Through ethnographic analysis of contentious collaborations between residents, urban activists, state planners, participatory architects, and city officials, Eli Elinoff’s analysis reveals how the Khon Kaen’s railway settlements became sites of contestation over political inclusion and the meaning and value of democracy as a political form in the first decades of the twenty-first century. Elinoff examines how as residents embraced politics to enact their equality, they inspired new debates about what good citizenship might mean and how democracy might look and feel. The disagreements over citizenship, like those Elinoff describes in Khon Kaen, reflect the kinds of aspirations for political equality that have been fundamental to Thailand’s political transformation over the last two decades, which has seen new political actors asserting themselves at the ballot box and in the streets alongside the retrenchment of military authoritarianism. Citizen Designs offers new conceptual and empirical insights into the lived effects of Thailand’s political volatility and into the current moment of democratic ambivalence, mass urbanization, and authoritarian resurgence.

Translational Politics in Southeast Asian Literatures

Translational Politics in Southeast Asian Literatures PDF Author: Grace V. S. Chin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000363325
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Highlighting the interconnections between Southeast Asia and the world through literature, this book calls for a different reading approach to the literatures of Southeast Asia by using translation as the main conceptual framework in the analyses and interpretation of the texts, languages, and cultures of the following countries: Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philippines. Through the theme of “translational politics,” the contributors critically examine not only the linguistic properties but also the metaphoric, symbolic, and semiotic meanings, images, and representations that have been translated across societies and cultures through local and global consumption and circulation of literature, (new) media, and other cultural forms. Using translation to unlock and decode multiple, different languages, narratives, histories, and worldviews emerging from Southeast Asian geo-literary contexts, this book builds on current scholarship and offers new approaches to the contestations of race, gender, and sexuality in literature, which often involve the politically charged discourses of identity, language, and representation. At the same time, this book provides new perspectives and future directions in the study of Southeast Asian literatures. Exploring a range of literary and cultural products, including written texts, performance, and cinema, this volume will be a key resource for students and researchers interested in translation and cultural studies, comparative and world literature, and Southeast Asian studies.

Luk Thung

Luk Thung PDF Author: James Leonard Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9786162151064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Based on author's doctoral thesis, Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies, 2012.