In-person Conference Program

Full Schedule

• Full Schedule (PDF)
• Additional paper details (PDF)

Friday, October 20 (Capitol Room, Holmes Student Center)

noon-12:15 p.m.: Welcome remarks by Yvonne Harris, Ph.D., vice president of NIU Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships; and Robert Brinkmann, Ph.D., dean of NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

COTS/Keynote introductions by Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski, Ph.D., Assistant Director of NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies and Micah Morton, Ph.D., chair of NIU’s Thai Studies Committee

12:15-1:15 p.m.: Keynote Address: “Empowering the Margins: The Roles of NGOs among Ethnic Highlanders in Thailand” by Prasit Leepreecha, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Social Science and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University

1:15-2:30 p.m.: Lunch (Ellington’s Restaurant, Main Floor, Holmes Student Center)

2:40-3:40 p.m.: Panel 1-Buddhism, Women, and Sound Cultures
Moderator: Aarie Glas, Northern Illinois University

1.1 Mastering the Karma Masters: Comparing Women’s Selfhood in Thai Buddhism
Daphne Weber, Washington State University 

1.2 Attunement of the ear and voice: The role of embodied knowledge and sensory training in the Thai bhikkhuni movement; Katherine Scahill, University of Pennsylvania

1.3 Sounding Gratitude in Central and Northeast Thailand: Musical and Literary Structures for Filial Piety; Trent Walker, University of Michigan

3:40-3:50 p.m.: Break

3:50-5:20 p.m.: Panel 2-Water Studies: The Social Lives of Dams and Rivers
Moderator: Mitchell Rigert, Northern Illinois University

2.1 Water Demand Analysis and Management in Thailand’s Northern and Northeastern Watersheds; Panisa Vishuphong, Thammasat University

2.2 Haunted Renewal: Stories from Blasted Landscapes in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Chiang Rai, Thailand; Solomon Kronberg, Michigan State University

2.3 Deep Pools versus Big Dams: Riverhood and Knowledge Politics in the Struggle for Mekong Futures; Wisa Wisesjindawat, Amanda Flaim and Noah Doederlein, Michigan State University

2.4 Situating Isan Liver Fluke Disease in the Environmental Humanities
Visisya Pinthongvijayakul, Chandrakasem Rajabhat University

2.5 A prospective "grand bargain" towards resolving the Salween/Thanlwin-Chao Phraya interbasin transfer (IBT) imbroglio: progress report; Alan Potkin, Northern Illinois University

5:20-5:30 p.m.: Break

5:30-6:30 p.m.: Panel 3-Dealing with an Aging Society
Moderator: Duangkamon Winitkun, Northern Illinois University

3.1 The Role of Elders in Driving Primary Health Services and Decentralization: A Case Study of Lampang Province; Saifon Su-indramedhi, Thammasat University

3.2 Older Persons in State Facilities for Destitute in Thailand: Situations and Life Experiences
Thepparp Rungnapa, Thammasat University

3.3 The expectation of employers and employees in the aging labor market in Northern-Thailand
Onicha Meangbua, Thammasat University

7 p.m.: Potluck gathering at the home Trude Jacobsen, Ph.D. (Further details TBA)

Saturday, October 21 (Capitol Room, Holmes Student Center)

7:30-8:30 a.m.: Breakfast (Ellington’s Restaurant, Main Floor, Holmes Student Center)

8:30-9:30 a.m.: Panel 4-National Identity in/Beyond Thailand; Khwampen Thai/ Thainess
Moderator: Kanjana Thepboriruk, Northern Illinois University

4.1 Embodying ‘Thainess’ and Post-2006 Coup Crisis in Buppesannivas
Saranpat Boonhok, SOAS University of London 

4.2 Glai Ban (ไกลบ้าน) Phenomenon: Home (Re)making, Nostalgia/Memories of Memories, and The Question of Diasporic “Thai?” in Diaspora within Thai
Kasidit "Gunn" Phikrohkit, University of California at Irvine

4.3 Authentic Beyond Ethnicity: The Case of Thai Restaurateurs in Los Angeles
Nida Sanglimsuwan, University of California, Los Angeles

9:30-9:45 a.m.: Break

9:45-10:30 a.m.: Panel 5-Buddhist Historiographies
Moderator: Hao Phan, Northern Illinois University

5.1 Palladium and Power in the Theravada Buddhist World: The Journey of Phra Bang Buddha in 1867; Zhang Chen, University of Macau

5.2 What Was Hidden Behind the mass-produced Buddhist Reverse Glass paintings of Siam
Catherine Raymond, Northern Illinois University

10:30-10:45 a.m.: Break

10:45-11:30 a.m.: Panel 6-Revisionist Histories of the Nation
Moderator: Katherine Bowie, University of Wisconsin-Madison

6.1 Preserving Political Narratives: Collecting Anti-Communist Posters in Thailand
Hao Phan, Northern Illinois University

6.2 Len Prawatisat: Games, Gaming, and Thai History
Taylor Easum, Indiana University

11:30-11:50 a.m.: Break

11:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m. Interactive Workshop on Thai Music and Dance: ขบวนกลองยาว
Chamni Sripraram and the NIU Thai Music Ensemble

12:20-12:30 p.m.: Break

12:30-1:30 p.m.: Lunch (Ellington’s Restaurant, Main Floor, Holmes Student Center)

1:30-2:05 p.m.: Film-showing of การเดินทางอันแสนไกล/The Long Journey (2512/1969; 19 min); Jeffrey Shane and Pittaya Paladroi-Shane, Ohio University

2:05-2:15 p.m.: Break

2:15-3:15 p.m.: Panel 7-Economics, Education, and Gaming
Moderator: Larry Ashmun, University of Wisconsin-Madison

7.1 Unraveling Deindustrialization: China's Role in Reshaping Thailand's Manufacturing Landscape; Possapon Charoenporn, SOAS University of London

7.2 Leading Public-Private Partnership Through the Network Governance of Early Childhood Education: A Case of Community Engagement in Thai Eco-Industrial Estate Phrueksaphong Visuthduangdusdee, Indiana University

7.3 "Wait! Let’s Break the Cycle!”: Teachers’ Professional Identity Formation in Thailand
Duangkamon Winitkun, Northern Illinois University

3:15-3:25 p.m.: Break

3:25-4:40 p.m.: Panel 8-Film, Literature and Media
Moderator: Mitchell Rigert, Northern Illinois University

8.1 Searching for the soul through journey, inspired by Somdet Ya, in Yim, a Thai documentary-drama; Pogkrong Boon-Long, Thammasat University

8.2 Canals, Cars, and Calamity: Traffic Jams and Flooding in Bangkok Past, Present, Future 
John F. Hartmann, Northern Illinois University  

8.3 Crossing Cultures: Foreign Ghost Stories Told by Thai Narrators
Chanintorn Pensute, Chiang Mai University

8.4 Urban Hauntings: Vengeful Female Ghosts in Contemporary Thai Horror Cinema
Raiden Montero, University of Wisconsin-Madison 

4:40-4:50 p.m.: Break

4:50-5:50 p.m.: Panel 9-Politics: From the Street to the Ballot
Moderator: Taylor Easum, Indiana State University 

9.1 #MuteluforDemocracy: Gender and Modernity in the Rebranding of Magic in the 2020-2021 Thai Protests; Abhichana Anna Naiyapatana, Cornell University

9.2 The Turning Point of Voting Behavior in the Thailand Election of 14th May 2023: A Case Study of Chiang Mai Province; Pailin Phujeenaphan, Chiang Mai University

9.3 The Bhumjaithai Party's strategies to expand its political dominance in the Isan region in the 2023 Thai general election; Patawee Chotanan, Ubonratchatani University

5:50-6:00 p.m.: Break

6:00-7:00 p.m.: Roundtable on 190 Years of US-Thai Relations, Sponsored by the Asia Foundation; John Brandon, The Asia Foundation; Vasu Srivarathonbul, Ph.D., Royal Thai Embassy, Washington, D.C.; with pre-recorded remarks from Senator Tammy Duckwork, D-IL

7-8:30 p.m.: Dinner and Performance by Chamni Sripraram and the NIU Thai Music Ensemble (Ellington’s Restaurant, Main Floor, Holmes Student Center)

Sunday, October 22 (Capitol Room, Holmes Student Center)

8-9 a.m.: Breakfast (Ellington’s Restaurant, Main Floor, Holmes Student Center)

8:30-9 a.m.: COTS Business Meeting

9-10:15 a.m.: Panel 10-Gender and Queer Studies
Moderator: Jeffrey Shane, Ohio University

10.1 Queer Commerce and Representation in Thailand
Texanna Faulk, Midwestern State University, Texas

10.2 Gender Movement: Writing Thom (Tomboy) History
Emily Donald, Cornell University

10.3 Queer Rave and the Aesthetics of Rawness in Bangkok’s Nightlife
Rory Fewer, University of California, Riverside

10.4 Mapping the contemporary Thai feminist movement in Latin American feminism with ‘Sidaluifai’ (2020) and ‘Un Violador en Tu Camino’ (2019); Jittawat Kunyamoon, The University of Texas at Austin

10:15-10:25 a.m.: Break

10:25-11:20 a.m.: Panel 11-Shifting Upland-Lowland Relations and the Politics of Fire in the North
Moderator: Pittaya Paladroi-Shane, Ohio University

11.1 Keeping the State at a Distance through Legibility: A Karen Youth Group’s Efforts to Maintain their Swidden System in Thailand; Mitchell Rigert, Northern Illinois University

11.2 “We are in a much better position these days”: Indigenous Peoples’ shifting status in Thai national imaginaries; Micah Morton, Northern Illinois University

11.3 Short-film “Fire” (2021; 8.19 min; Chanintorn Pensute, Director)
Chanintorn Pensute, Chiang Mai University

11:20-11:30 a.m.: Break

11:30 a.m.-noon: Roundtable: Songs the Blind Can See! A Preliminary Case Study on Teaching the Khaen to Visually Impaired Students in the School for the Blind in Roi Et, Thailand; Jui-Ching Wang, John Hartmann and Chamni Sripraram, Northern Illinois University 

noon-12:05 p.m.: Concluding Remarks by Micah Morton, Northern Illinois University

12:05-1 p.m.: Lunch (Ellington’s Restaurant, Main Floor, Holmes Student Center)