Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle. Author of Thailand: Buddhist Kingdom as Modern Nation State; Finding Their Voice: Northeastern Thai Villagers and the Thai State; and Golden Peninsula: Culture and Adaptation in Mainland Southeast Asia.
This book traces the evolution of the rural, Lao-speaking people of northeastern Thailand, now over a third of the nation's population, from a traditional peasantry into "cosmopolitan" villagers who are actively shaping Thai politics. The electoral successes of the Thai Rak Thai/Pheu Thai Party in the early twenty-first century and the strong support given to the Red-Shirt movement appear to have finally given the cosmopolitan villagers of northeastern Thailand a continuing voice in the nation's...
