Education: PhD in Government (1974), MA in Government (1971), Cornell University; MA in Diplomacy and World
Affairs (1968), Occidental Colleg;. BS in Foreign Service (1965), University of the Philippines.
Work History: Associate Professor of Political Science, Thammasat University (1974-1980); Deputy Spokesman
of the Royal Thai Government (1980); Associate Dean and Director of Admissions (1985-1998), College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University;
Director of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program (1998-2008).
I teach the undergraduate introductory course on Southeast Asia, the graduate Southeast Asia Field Seminar, the Reading
Seminar on modern Thai literature, and the graduate seminar on Contemporary Thailand. My current research interests include authoritarianism
and democratization in post-1932 Thai politics, the role of the turn of the 20th century Thai novels in the construction of identity, strategies
to deal with modernity, and of gender ideal types.
My hobbies include fly-fishing, playing and collecting vintage Fender and Gibson guitars. I am an active member of the Sports Car Club of America,
and the Porsche Club of America, serving as President of its Central New York Chapter from 2000-2004.
Recent Publications
Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism (Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications; co-published in Thailand by Silkworm Press, 2007).
This is a revised edition.
Kanmuang Rabob Phokhun Uppatham Baeb Phadetkan, (Bangkok: Thai Textbook Foundation for the Social Sciences and Humanities, 2005), edited by
Thamrongsak Petchlertanan. It book was chosen as one of three texts published to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1932 Revolution that overthrew
Thai absolute monarchy. The first edition was published in 1983.
“Towards a more inclusive national narrative: Thai history and the Chinese, Isan and the nation state” in Luem khotngao Kaw Phao Phaenadin,
Kanjanee Laongsi and Thanet Apornsuwan, eds., (Bangkok: Matichon Press, 2001) pp. 64-110.
Post-script:: “Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo: Khrai Khu Wirachon Khong Filipin”in Suchart Sawatsi, ed.,Wirachon Asia,(Bangkok:5 Area Studies Project, 2002), pp 149-175.
“Move over Madonna: Luang Wichit Wathakan’s Huang Rak Haew Luk,” in James Siegel and Audrey Kahin, ed., Southeast Asia Across Three Generations
(Ithaca: SEAP publications, 2003).
“Prospects for Southeast Asian Studies,” Asia Pacific Forum, 28 (June 2005), pp. 287-306.
“Khwam Mai Phayabat Khong Khru Liam lae Khwam Than Samai Khong Thai Thi Pen Panha”,Rathasatsan Journal,Volume 28, no. 2, April 2007.
“Khru Liam’s Nang Neramid:Siamese Fantasy, Rider Haggard’sShe,and the Divine Egyptian Nymph,”Southeast Asia Research Journal,Volume 15, no. 1, 2007.
“Nang Neramid: Thepthida Egypt Ruang Phet lae Khwam Phoefan khong Phuchai Nai Nawaniyai Thai Yuk Raek”Ratthasatsan Journal,Volume 29, no.1, (January-April 2008), pp. 1-37.
“Khru Liam’s Khwam Mai Phayabat(1915) and the Problematics of Thai Modernity”, in Rachel Harrison and Peter Jackson,Siam: The Ambiguous Allure of the West, forthcoming.
“Distinctions with a Difference: The Despotic Paternalism of Sarit Thanarat and the Demagogic Authoritarianism of Thaksin Shinawatra," Crossroads, 19:1 (2007), pp. 50-94.
"Making New Space in the Thai Literary Canon,"Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, (February 2009) forthcoming.
