Thai studies

Thai Studies is an intellectual category used by research universities around the world as a way of bringing together specialists from different disciplines such as history, anthropology, religious studies, political science, Thai language, Thai literature, and musicology who are doing research in these areas in the country of Thailand.

The term sometimes includes research on Tai ethnic groups living outside of Thailand such as the Shan or Tai Lu of Sipsongpanna in Yunnan, China as well as ethnic groups such as the Mon who have long inhabited the area of modern-day Thailand.

Probably the first organisation to actively sponsor and promote Thai Studies was the Siam Society under royal patronage, established in 1904. The Siam Society has an extensive library of Thai studies materials and publishes the The Journal of the Siam Society.

Currently, the Center for Thai Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand is a thriving center for Thai Studies. The Thailand Information Center (TIC) at Chulalongkorn's main library is a central repository of research materials for Thai Studies.

Cornell University was the first active center for Thai Studies in the United States. The highly acclaimed historian David K. Wyatt was professor at Cornell from 1969 till his retirement 2002.

External links

* [http://www.siam-society.org/ The Siam Society]
* [http://www.arts.chula.ac.th/international/thai/ The Thai Studies Center, Chulalongkorn University]
* [http://www.car.chula.ac.th/tic/ Thailand Information Center, Chulalongkorn University]
* [http://www.thaistudies.net/ thaistudies.net, An international forum for students of Thailand based at Northern Illinois University]