New Mandala

Jinghong (Kathy) Zhang is a PhD student here in RMAP. She is planning to undertake research on the production, marketing and consumption of Puer Tea in Yunnan Province. She has written a fascinating introductory article about her research site, Yiwu, a small tea-growing township in Sipsongpanna. Her article has generated considerable interest among the on-line “Pu-Erh Tea [...]

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Earlier this month I helped farmers in Baan Tiam (northern Thailand) crush bags of hoy cheri (golden apple snails). The crushed snails were mixed with rotten fruit, molasses and water to make a rich brew for the production of liquid fertiliser. This was a project promoted by the Land Development Department and supported with small grants [...]

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Thaksin’s recent letter to George Bush appeared in The Nation today, along with George’s friendly response. Interesting reading.

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The Australian Journal of Anthropology (17: 2) has just published my paper on matrilineal spirit cults in northern Thailand. Here is the abstract for the paper:
Matrilineal Spirits, Descent and Territorial Power in Northern Thailand
This paper examines matrilineal spirits (phii puu nyaa) in northern Thailand based on field research recently undertaken in a village in Chiang Mai [...]

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This is only my second post for a week. Sorry! I have been caught up with fieldwork in a village in northern Thailand. As I mentioned in the last post there has been a lot of rice planting; several village meetings discussing various “projects” and their “budgets”; and plenty of fried tadpoles from the paddy fields to accompany [...]

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Lots of Thai and English language coverage today of the “blue-blood ladies” who met (at RCA, no less!) to “air their disapproval” of the PM and his recent comments about a “charismatic figure”.  �
This is an interesting development and one that has many sub-texts.  The claim that only the RCA restaurant would host their gathering is particularly noteworthy.

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Chiang Mai in the wet season is a stranger place than normal.  All the trappings that make it a “must-see” destination remain but it is empty…empty of the tourists who haunt its lanes and bars and markets.  And who keep the economy ticking over.
Walking around town, the tuk-tuk drivers keep up their pleas for custom.  [...]

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This is a blog from the field, from a lowland northern Thai village. The rice growing season is getting under way. The seedling beds have been planted; the fields have been ploughed and the bunds dividing the fields have been repaired. Over the next few days teams of exchange labourers will start to descend on [...]

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Today, news that “caretaker” Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is off to watch the World Cup final.  Some of his quotes are getting lots of column inches and air time.�
According to The Nation,
“Products like sports shirts and balls made in Thailand, as well as Thai referees, have gone to the World Cup, so I want to [...]

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