King Of Bangkok

Author : Claudio Sopranzetti,Sara Fabbri,Chiara Natalucci
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Bangkok (Thailand)
ISBN : 9781487526412

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King of Bangkok by Claudio Sopranzetti,Sara Fabbri,Chiara Natalucci Pdf

The English translation of this best-selling graphic novel tells the story of Nok, an old blind man who sells lottery tickets in Bangkok, as he decides to leave the city and return to his native village. Through reflections on contemporary Bangkok and flashbacks to his past, Nok reconstructs a journey through the slums of migrant workers, the rice fields of Isaan, the tourist villages of Ko Pha Ngan, and the Red Shirt protests of 2010. Based on a decade of anthropological research, The King of Bangkok is a story of migration to the city, distant families in the countryside, economic development eroding the land, and violent political protest. Ultimately, it is a story about contemporary Thailand and how the waves of history lift, engulf, and crash against ordinary people.

Author : Paul M. Handley
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2006-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780300130591

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The King Never Smiles by Paul M. Handley Pdf

Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 and is now the world's longest-serving monarch. This book tells the unexpected story of his life and 60-year rule: how a Western-raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha; and how a king widely seen as beneficent and apolitical could in fact be so deeply political, autocratic, and even brutal. Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king's youth and personal development, ascent to the throne, skilful political maneuverings, and attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Blasting apart the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian and virtuous, Handley convincingly portrays an anti-democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business and the corrupt Thai military, has protected a centuries-old, barely-modified feudal dynasty. When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne after the still-unsolved shooting of his brother, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power and prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, crushing critics while attaining high status among his people. The book details this process and depicts Thailand's unique constitutional monarch in the full light of the facts.

Author : Ross King
Publisher : NUS Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9971695464

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Reading Bangkok by Ross King Pdf

Reading Bangkok presents stories and meanings derived from the built fabric and spaces of Thailand's capital city. The narrative shifts from King Taksin's mostly forgotten but wondrous Thonburi to the tourist spectacle of Rattanakosin, Dusit and Ratchadamnoen (King Rama V's superficial emulation of an admired, imperialist Europe), Sukhumvit "Road" (consumer land), and the slums that are an integral part of the modern city. The author structures the book around external intrusions and local resistance. Geographically, this process is seen in movement from centre to periphery (Thonburi, Rattanakosin, Ratchadamnoen, Sukhumvit, Ratchadapisek, Khlong Toei, the universities). Chronologically, the city underwent various forms of colonization: incorporation of the periphery, which in turn colonized Bangkok; the economic colonization of the 19th and 20th centuries; colonization by consumption brought on in large part by globalized tourism; colonization by the "better" ideas of others (typically from the West); and finally colonization by "better" ways of thinking - notably the intrusions of the universities and of popular democracy. This exceptionally innovative study draws on urban planning and development, history, anthropology, and political economy, and a rich body of empirical data to provide insights into the maze of power relations, inequalities and global influences that is normally hidden from view. Reading Bangkok is that rare thing, a study that genuinely changes the way its subject is seen and understood.

Author : Claudio Sopranzetti,Sara Fabbri,Chiara Natalucci
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2021-10-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781487539160

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The King of Bangkok by Claudio Sopranzetti,Sara Fabbri,Chiara Natalucci Pdf

The English translation of this bestselling graphic novel tells the story of Nok, an old blind man who sells lottery tickets in Bangkok, as he decides to leave the city and return to his native village. Through reflections on contemporary Bangkok and flashbacks to his past, Nok reconstructs a journey through the slums of migrant workers, the rice fields of Isaan, the tourist villages of Ko Pha Ngan, and the Red Shirt protests of 2010. Based on a decade of anthropological research, The King of Bangkok is a story of migration to the city, distant families in the countryside, economic development eroding the land, and violent political protest. Ultimately, it is a story about contemporary Thailand and how the waves of history lift, engulf, and crash against ordinary people.

Author : Charles F. Keyes
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 379 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-23
Category : Thailand
ISBN : 1732610207

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Coup, King, Crisis by Charles F. Keyes Pdf

The prospects of the inevitable end of the Bhumibol era loomed large over 21st century Thailand. Events have now taken their course, and King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been crowned. The new King is beginning to make his presence felt, but in important ways Thailand is still in an interregnum: a time when the old order is dying but a new one struggles to be born. The prospects of the inevitable end of the Bhumibol era loomed large over 21st century Thailand. Events have now taken their course, and King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been crowned. The new King is beginning to make his presence felt, but in important ways Thailand is still in an interregnum: a time when the old order is dying but a new one struggles to be born. This volume examines the royal transition in Thailand, from the 2014 coup through to the 2017 Constitution and the 2019 election. The royal transition sparked a crisis that pressured important institutions of the nation, from the politicized judiciary to the troubled Sanga or priesthood. The period of waiting has influenced all aspects of Thai governance, from foreign policy to economic management, to human rights and the spread of self-censorship. This volume, which brings together some of the leading writers on Thailand, is the first book-length analysis of this deep transition.

Author : William Stevenson
Publisher : Constable & Robinson
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Thailand
ISBN : 1841194514

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The Revolutionary King by William Stevenson Pdf

The truly extraordinary life story of Bhumibol, King of Thailand, who for the last fifty years has been the monarch of one of the most troubled and exotic kingdoms of the modern world has sold over 6,000 copies in hardback and is now available for the first time in an affordable paperback edition. Brought up in the west, Bhumibol acceded to the Thai throne when his brother King Ananda was assassinated, and was immediately confronted, at the age of 19, with a task that was dangerous and almost unimaginably difficult. Not only was his position insecure - he was suspected both domestically and internationally of engineering his brother's murder - but the country he hardly knew was a crucible of conflicting ideas and influences.

Author : Nicholas Grossman,Dominic Faulder
Publisher : Editions Didier Millet
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Thailand
ISBN : 9789814260565

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King Bhumibol Adulyadej by Nicholas Grossman,Dominic Faulder Pdf

Author : Margaret Landon
Publisher : Open Road Media
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2016-08-23
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781504038553

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Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon Pdf

Based on the incredible true story of one woman’s journey to the exotic world of nineteenth-century Siam, the riveting novel that inspired The King and I. In 1862, recently widowed and with two small children to support, British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens agrees to serve as governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (present-day Thailand), unaware that her years in the royal palace will change not only her own life, but also the future of a nation. Her relationship with King Mongkut, famously portrayed by Yul Brynner in the classic film The King and I, is complicated from the start, pitting two headstrong personalities against each other: While the king favors tradition, Anna embraces change. As governess, Anna often finds herself at cross-purposes, marveling at the foreign customs, fascinating people, and striking landscape of the kingdom and its harems, while simultaneously trying to influence her pupils—especially young Prince Chulalongkorn—with her Western ideals and values. Years later, as king, this very influence leads Chulalongkorn to abolish slavery in Siam and introduce democratic reform based on the ideas of freedom and human dignity he first learned from his beloved tutor. This captivating novel brilliantly combines in-depth research—author Margaret Landon drew from Siamese court records and Anna’s own writings—with richly imagined details to create a lush portrait of 1860s Siam. As a Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musical and an Academy Award–winning film, the story of Anna and the King of Siam has enchanted millions over the years. It is a gripping tale of cultural differences and shared humanity that invites readers into a vivid and sensory world populated by unforgettable characters.

Author : Alec Waugh
Publisher : Eland Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Bangkok (Thailand)
ISBN : 0955010527

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Bangkok by Alec Waugh Pdf

In Bangkok, Alec Waugh has created the most fluent, truthful and affectionate portrait not only of the city, but also of the dynasty and culture which created it. Cutting through confusion and veiled mystery, he unravels the plots, coups, wars, assassinations, invasions and counter-coups of three hundred years of history as if it were this evening's street gossip. This loving description of the genius, fascination and enduring vitality of Thailand is told with Waugh's customary delight in life and sensual appreciation. The story is brought up-to-date with an afterword by Bruce Palling, former Times correspondent in Thailand.

Author : David Engel
Publisher : U OF M CENTER FOR SOUTH EAST ASIAN STUDI
Page : 145 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 1975-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780891480099

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Law and Kingship in Thailand During the Reign of King Chulalongkorn by David Engel Pdf

This essay originated in an attempt to bring together the study of law and Thai history in a description of the transformation of Thailand during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as seen from a legal point of view. The resulting work is based for the most part upon those royal enactments from 1873 to 1910 which seemed most crucially to affect the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of the king and the rights of private citizens. [ix]

Author : Serhat Ünaldi
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2016-05-31
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0824855728

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Working towards the Monarchy by Serhat Ünaldi Pdf

In the twilight years of Thailand's ailing King Bhumibol, battles between royalists and their red shirt opponents are increasing, and the tectonic shifts that lie beneath Thailand's decade-old political crisis have become increasingly apparent. Serhat Ünaldi's Working towards the Monarchy sheds new light on recent developments with its bold analysis of urban space in downtown Bangkok: buildings, the author finds, are abstractions of the complexities that shape Thailand's transformation. Most criticism of the political role of the Thai monarchy—its deep involvement in Thailand's uneven capitalist development, Bhumibol's endorsement of military coups and his silent acquiescence to political violence—has focused on the role of individuals: the king, the royal family, or privy councilors. Ünaldi departs from such limited intentionalist approaches to show instead just how deeply enmeshed the monarchy is in Thai society as a whole. He demonstrates how and why Thais from all walks of life drew on royal charisma to advance their individual aims, in effect "working towards the monarchy." Ünaldi's sociological analysis of urban space reveals how buildings and spaces have been constructed for political and economic ends, particularly to shore up the monarchy. For several decades the architecture in central Bangkok has helped protect the charisma of the monarchy, which dominates landholdings and investments in the area. Because the sacred aura of the royal family legitimized capitalist expansion and consumerism, it was defended and enhanced by those Bangkokians who profited from it. Yet politically and geographically marginalized Thais failed to benefit from this royalist-led capitalist development and eventually found a new leader, business tycoon-cum-politician Thaksin Shinawatra. When Thaksin's followers turned against royal charisma and attacked the architecture that represented and supported it, movement away from royal charismatic authority became a real possibility for the first time. By combining sociology, political science, architecture, and anthropology, Working towards the Monarchy offers a unique interdisciplinary approach. It will interest scholars and generalists alike, particularly those involved in the comparative study of monarchies.

Author : Andrew MacGregor Marshall
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2015-11-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781783607808

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A Kingdom in Crisis by Andrew MacGregor Marshall Pdf

'Perhaps the best introduction yet to the roots of Thailand's present political impasse. A brilliant book.' Simon Long, The Economist Struggling to emerge from a despotic past, and convulsed by an intractable conflict that will determine its future, Thailand stands at a defining moment in its history. Scores have been killed on the streets of Bangkok. Freedom of speech is routinely denied. Democracy appears increasingly distant. And many Thais fear that the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej is expected to unleash even greater instability. Yet in spite of the impact of the crisis, and the extraordinary importance of the royal succession, they have never been comprehensively analysed – until now. Breaking Thailand's draconian lèse majesté law, Andrew MacGregor Marshall is one of the only journalists covering contemporary Thailand to tell the whole story. Marshall provides a comprehensive explanation that for the first time makes sense of the crisis, revealing the unacknowledged succession conflict that has become entangled with the struggle for democracy in Thailand.

Author : Claudio Sopranzetti
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780520288508

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Owners of the Map by Claudio Sopranzetti Pdf

On May 19, 2010, the Royal Thai Army deployed tanks, snipers, and war weapons to disperse the thousands of Red Shirts protesters who had taken over the commercial center of Bangkok to demand democratic elections and an end to inequality. Key to this mobilization were motorcycle taxi drivers, who slowed down, filtered, and severed mobility in the area, claiming a prominent role in national politics and ownership over the city and challenging state hegemony. Four years later, on May 20, 2014, the same army general who directed the dispersal staged a military coup, unopposed by protesters. How could state power have been so fragile and open to challenge in 2010 and yet so seemingly sturdy only four years later? How could protesters who had once fearlessly resisted military attacks now remain silent? Owners of the Map provides answers to these questions—central to contemporary political mobilizations around the globe—through an ethnographic study of motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok. Claudio Sopranzetti explores the unresolved tensions in the drivers’ everyday lives, their migration trajectories, consumer desires, and political demands amidst the restructuring of Thai capitalism after the 1997 economic crisis. Reconstructing the entanglements between their everyday mobility and political mobilization, Sopranzetti reveals mobility not just as a strength of contemporary capitalism but also as one of its fragile spots, always prone to disruption by the people who sustain its channels but remain excluded from their benefits. In so doing, Owners of the Map advances an analysis of power that focuses not on the sturdiness of hegemony or the ubiquity of everyday resistance but on its potential fragility as well as the work needed for its maintenance.

Author : Walter F. Vella
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2019-03-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9780824880309

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Chaiyo! by Walter F. Vella Pdf

Throughout his fifteen-year reign (1910-1925), King Vajiravudh, absolute monarch of Siam, attempted to foster a spirit of nationalism among the Thai, to unite the Thai people and make them proud of their land and their heritage. He hoped to save his country from expanding Western imperialism by infusing his people with the Western ideology of loyalty to the state. This book documents all the many forms the King's nationalistic efforts assumed, ranging from the establishment of a para-military patriotic organization called the Wild Tiger Corps to the encouragement of the team sports and the coining of a new cheer, Chaiyo! ("Victory!"). Vajiravudh was a prolific writer, and his hortatory articles, plays, poems, and speeches are analyzed in terms of the King's message to his people to be Thai, to act Thai, and to think Thai. Chaiyo! adds greatly to an understanding of the emergence of modern Thailand. It is also an important addition to studies of the impact of the West and the emergence of nationalism in Asia as a whole during the period of World War I. The findings will be of value not only to historians but also to political scientists and, indeed, to all those interested in the development of Asia or in the growth of nationalism anywhere in the world.

Author : Ross King
Publisher : NUS Press
Page : 65 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2017-01-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9789814722278

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Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand by Ross King Pdf

Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Thailand explores the intersections of memory, place, power and tourism in the production of Thai heritage and identity. The author shows that underlying officially promulgated ideas is a much deeper, richer and sometimes darker substratum of memories and practices that both undermine and enrich conventional ideas of Thailand as a Kingdom, a nation and a culture. The book views Thai culture and its heritage from a variety of perspectives that are derived from the work of Thai scholars but refracted through a more Western epistemology and its attendant critical theory. Through a juxtaposition of Thai and Western critical scholarship, it highlights key elements of Thai identity or, more accurately, the diversity of Thai identities. In the process, the book raises questions about both Thai and Western thinking about knowledge and its production.