Charles F. Keyes

Shigeharu Tanabe

This book explores social memory in the context of cultural crises of modernity in Thailand and Laos. It explicates the ways in which social memory constructed by the people enters modernity, and how this in turn causes fundamental ruptures with their past, as well as the various ways cultural crises are experienced in their lives. The essays in this book consider how in these crises the people constitute their cultural, social, or individual identities, particularly focusing on the theoretical issues of identifications and their relevance to distinct historical processes in Thailand and Laos. Both countries, particularly in the two decades since the 1970s, have been undergoing radical social and economic changes. Whilst Thailand has travelled down the road to industrialization, neighbouring Laos experienced a communist revolution in 1975 and only since the late 1980s has attempted to follow a reformist path to development. Increasingly influenced by globalised economic and social institutions, both countries have come to face crises that have made people insecure in the present and anxious about the future.

Modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos

Cultural Crisis and Social Memory

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.

A Critical Interregnum in Thailand

Coup, King, Crisis

Over a long and productive career, Charles "Biff" Keyes carried out research, taught, and forged links between scholars and institutions in the United States, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. His work has focused on religious practice, ethnicity and national cultures, transformation of rural society, and political culture. An enduring theme in his writing has been the role of Buddhism in everyday life in mainland Southeast Asia. His new memoir illustrates the significance of the Buddhist emphasis on impermanence (anicca) and demonstrates how this principle has shaped his own life. A graduate of Cornell University, Keyes conducted his first fieldwork in a village in northeast Thailand, followed by research in Mae Sariang on the Thai-Myanmar border. In addition to his long career at the University of Washington, he taught at Chiang Mai University and Maha Sarakham University. Keyes made teaching a priority, training graduate students from Thailand and Vietnam. A leading figure in both anthropology and Southeast Asian studies, he served as the president of the Association of Asian Studies and encouraged international scholarship.

Charles F. Keyes

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