For more than 100 years the common tropes on the South have been "separatism" and "security." Contemporary international concerns about terrorism have further heightened this tendency to view the South as a region in political crisis. The Ninth International Conference on Thai Studies will offer opportunities for research informed reflection on these critical security and political issues as well as opportunities for exploring any and all aspects of these themes -- the South and Muslims in Thailand.
Dr. Chaiwat Satha-anand, professor of Political Science Thammasadt University has agreed to give a keynote address focusing on the Muslim region in the South.
In addition to soliciting paper requests focusing on the current "crisis" in the South, on the central government's past, present and future relationship with the Southern provinces, on security issues, on cultural, political and religious separation and on international Islamist organizations' stance towards Thailand, the Program Committee encourages proposals on the South and/or Muslims in Thailand not focused on these security concerns. Papers focusing, for example, on the following are particularly welcome: Muslim communities throughout Thailand; Muslim education; Thai adaptations of Islamic social practices; ethnographic and historical studies of the South; borders and border crossings in the South; maritime Pattani; historical Buddhist exchanges between southern Thailand and Sri Lanka; and regional linguistics.