New Mandala

A review of Yos Santasombat (2008), Flexible Peasants: Reconceptualizing the Third World’s Rural Types. RCSD, Chiang Mai University.

[This review appeared recently in Chiang Mai University's Sangkhomsat, 20 (2).]
Like many scholars who study contemporary rural society, Yos Santasombat is seeking to define a new type of peasantry. The challenge appears formidable, not the least because, as [...]

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There have been a few recent reviews of Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand, which I wrote with Tim Forsyth of the London School of Economics. Here are some of the critical highlights …
… from Phil Hirsch’s review:
There is much that is exciting and refreshing in this book. Any [...]

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Recently there has been some interesting discussion starting on New Mandala about strategies for development in Laos. In discussing calls for “alternative options for meeting Laos’ development needs” by those campaigning against the Don Sahong dam, I asked what those development options may be. A useful response was provided by Keith Barney in his discussion of the [...]

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A. Daeng (Farmer)               B. Ja (Farmer)               C. Surayud (Privy Councillor)
This might help.

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The field research for this book was conducted in 2001-2003. A few years earlier the Lao government stopped issuing export permits for wood resin, although wood resin from Cambodia was still being exported to Thailand via Laos. The argument of the Lao government at the time was that wood resin harvesting was damaging the forests, [...]

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The Jordanians may have the glamour, but Thailand’s royals come up trumps on matters green. The environmental blog Grist has a list of the 10 greenest royals. My favourite, Charles, tops the list. He is an endangered species in his own right and deserves the highest recognition.
But run your eye down the list (gentlemen, move [...]

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Ian Baird, executive director of Global Association for People and the Environment and recently chosen for inclusion in the 2008-2009 Princeton Premier Registry, has launched a letter campaign against the Don Sahong Dam in southern Laos. The text of the letter is below. Those interested in signing can contact Ian at ianbaird@shaw.ca.
It’s hard not sympathise with a [...]

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The cub born to giant pandas Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui of the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Mai, which are on loan from China, has been officially named “Lin Bing” on Monday…Lin Bing in Chinese means “a forest of ice,” while in the Chinese pronunciation the word bing is very [...]

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The hydroelectric construction boom along the Mekong is well documented. So without knowing much more than that there was lots of documentation I went off to Kampot where nearby one of these phenomenal Space Odyssey-esque slabs of concrete is being erected.
On the bus to Kampot a man told me that part of the construction site had [...]

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Myanmar government figures for the latest financial year have been released and essentially it’s more of the same.
Gas sales to Thailand amounted to about US$2.38 billion, a slight drop on last year’s $2.53 billion, and continued to be by far the largest export earner. However, the volume exported dropped sharply from 516 billion cubic feet [...]

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