Description
Book SynopsisA collection of 11 essays, featuring debates about meaning in Southeast Asian and Thai history. It explores themes that have been treated superficially in Thai historical writing, including Siam's semi-colonialism in the late nineteenth century, the concepts of militarism and masculinity, collective memory and dynastic succession, and more.
Trade Review"As an Indologist and a folklorist, I am confident that this book is a masterpiece of Thai social history that will lead to the writing of 'seditious histories' of other Southeast Asian countries."
* Journal of Folklore Research *
"The essays in this collection are lucid and provocative. To borrow the title of a classic Siamese literacy manual analyzed by Reynolds, Seditious Histories is a 'gem of thought.' ."
* Journal of Asian Studies *
"Deeply introspective, yet conceptually broad, Seditious Histories is essential reading for scholars and students of Southeast Asia and Thai Studies."
* The Historian *
"This is a superb collection which anyone with an interest in Thai culture and history will enjoy."
* Journal of the Siam Society *
"Reynolds succeeds in bridging the gap between the modern western mind and the Thai world of thought in which extreme reverence for moral hierarchy and king, and Buddhist-animistic syncretism come 'naturally.' With this feat, he generously fulfills his promise of sharing with his readers the 'historical sensation' of transcending differences in mentalities and languages. It is precisely this that makes the collection a most valuable asset for students of Southeast Asia in general and those of interpretive historiography in particular."
* New Asia Books: IIAS Newsletter *
Table of ContentsPrologue
Acknowledgments
Sources
Studying Southeast Asia
1. A New Look at Old Southeast Asia
2. Paradigms of the Premodern State
Seditious Histories of Siam
3. Mr. Kulap and Purloined Documents
4. A Seditious Poem and Its History
5. Feudalism as a Trope for the Past
6. Engendering Thai Historical Writing
Cultural Studies
7. Religious Historical Writing in Early Bangkok
8. Buddhist Cosmography in Thai Intellectual History
9. A Thai-Buddhist Defense of Polygamy
10. A Thai Manual Knowledge: Theory and Practice
The Dialectics of Globalization
11. National Identity and Cultural Nationalism
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
