The Ambiguous Allure of the West: Traces of the Colonial in Thailand
The Ambiguous Allure of the West: Traces of the Colonial in Thailand
Cite
Abstract
This book brings studies of modern Thai history and culture into dialogue with debates in comparative intellectual history, Asian cultural studies, and postcolonial studies. It takes Thai Studies in new directions through case studies of the cultural hybridity and ambivalences that have emerged from the manifold interactions between Siam/Thailand and the West from 1850 to the present day. The central aims of the book are to critique notions of Thai “uniqueness” or “exceptionalism” and locate Thai Studies in a broader, comparative perspective by arguing that modern Siam/Thailand needs to be understood as a semicolonial society. In contrast to conservative nationalist and royalist accounts of Thai history and culture, which resist comparing the country to its once-colonized Asian neighbours, this book's contributors highlight the value of postcolonial analysis in understanding the complexly ambiguous, interstitial, liminal, and hybrid character of Thai/Western cultural interrelationships. At the same time, by pointing to the distinctive position of semicolonial societies in the Western-dominated world order, the chapters in the book make significant contributions to developing the critical theoretical perspectives of international cultural studies. The contributors demonstrate how the disciplines of history, anthropology, political science, film and cultural studies all enhance these contestations in intersecting ways, and across different historical moments. Each of the chapters raises manifold themes and questions regarding the nature of intercultural exchange, interrogated through theoretically critical lenses.
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction: The Allure of Ambiguity: The “West” and the Making of Thai Identities
Rachel Harrison
-
1
The Ambiguities of Semicolonial Power in Thailand
Peter A. Jackson
-
2
An Ambiguous Intimacy: Farang as Siamese Occidentalism
Pattana Kitiarsa
-
3
Competitive Colonialisms: Siam and the Malay Muslim South
Tamara Loos
-
4
Mind the Gap: (En)countering the West and the Making of Thai Identities on Film
Rachel Harrison
-
5
Blissfully Whose? Jungle Pleasures, Ultra-modernist Cinema and the Cosmopolitan Thai Auteur
May Adadol Ingawanij andRichard Lowell MacDonald
-
6
Coming to Terms with the West: Intellectual Strategies of Bifurcation and Post-Westernism in Siam
Thongchai Winichakul
-
7
Wathakam: The Thai Appropriation of Foucault's “Discourse”
Thanes Wongyannava
-
8
The Conceptual Allure of the West: Dilemmas and Ambiguities of Crypto-Colonialism in Thailand
Michael Herzfeld
-
Afterword: Postcolonial Theories and Thai Semicolonial Hybridities
Peter A. Jackson
-
End Matter
Sign in
Get help with accessPersonal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
Institutional access
- Sign in through your institution
- Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
Institutional account management
Sign in as administratorPurchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 5 |
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 4 |
October 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 2 |
November 2022 | 2 |
November 2022 | 2 |
December 2022 | 2 |
December 2022 | 1 |
December 2022 | 3 |
January 2023 | 1 |
January 2023 | 1 |
January 2023 | 2 |
February 2023 | 3 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 8 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 3 |
March 2023 | 10 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 9 |
April 2023 | 6 |
April 2023 | 3 |
April 2023 | 4 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 2 |
April 2023 | 8 |
April 2023 | 3 |
May 2023 | 1 |
May 2023 | 1 |
June 2023 | 1 |
June 2023 | 2 |
June 2023 | 1 |
July 2023 | 1 |
July 2023 | 2 |
July 2023 | 1 |
August 2023 | 3 |
August 2023 | 6 |
August 2023 | 3 |
August 2023 | 2 |
September 2023 | 2 |
September 2023 | 2 |
October 2023 | 1 |
October 2023 | 3 |
November 2023 | 3 |
November 2023 | 2 |
November 2023 | 1 |
November 2023 | 4 |
November 2023 | 4 |
December 2023 | 4 |
December 2023 | 2 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 2 |
January 2024 | 2 |
January 2024 | 2 |
January 2024 | 3 |
February 2024 | 1 |
February 2024 | 2 |
March 2024 | 3 |
March 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 3 |
April 2024 | 1 |
April 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 1 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.