Product Description
Reproducing Chinese Culture in Diaspora describes how a group of anti-communist Chinese nationals managed to establish a farming community in Thailand's northern hills after voluntary exile from communist China in 1949. Though successful from an agricultural sustainability standpoint, this community of Chinese exiles has rigidly maintained its cultural ideals, driving away younger generations and ultimately threatening to derail the community's continued existence. ... Read more

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A retelling of eighteen traditional Thai folk tales, followed by a brief section on the history, geography, culture, and people of the "Land of Smiles." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

delightful tales
This is a delightful collection of folk tales from Thailand, retold by Marian Toth. Mrs. Toth lived for a number of years in Thailand and collected tales and folklore while raising her children. They are wonderful to read aloud to young children, and later encourage them to read on their own. I love this book, and have enjoyed it with my family for years. ... Read more

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In this comparative, interdisciplinary study based on extensive fieldwork as well as historical sources, Janet Sturgeon examines the different trajectories of landscape change and land use among communities who call themselves Akha (known as Hani in China) in contrasting political contexts. She shows how, over the last century, processes of state formation, construction of ethnic identity, and regional security concerns have contributed to very different outcomes for Akha and their forests in China and Thailand, with Chinese Akha functioning as citizens and grain producers, and Akha in Thailand being viewed as "non-Thai" forest destroyers. The modern nation-state grapples with local power hierarchies on the periphery of the nation, with varied outcomes."Citizenship in China" helps Akha better protect a fluid set of livelihood practices that confer benefits on them and their landscape. Denied such citizenship in Thailand, Akha are helpless when forests and other resources are ruthlessly claimed by the state.Drawing on current anthropological debates on the state in Southeast Asia and more generally on debates on property theory, states and minorities, and political ecology, Sturgeon shows how people live in a continuous state of negotiated boundaries - political, social, and ecological.This pioneering comparison of resource access and land use among historically related peoples in two nation-states will be welcomed by scholars of political ecology, environmental anthropology, ethnicity, and politics of state formation in East and Southeast Asia. ... Read more

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THAILAND - Asia’s most gay-friendly country

A sex survey conducted by Time Asia Magazine (published March, 2001) found that Thai people are the most gay-friendly in asia.Thai for Gay Tourists has been designed to enhance your visit to the country so that you can communicate in a more fun and efficient way.If you are gay and are visiting or planning to visit Thailand, this book is a must for you!

THAI FOR GAY TOURISTS... offers gays a new and fun way to communicate in the Thai language; provides information for gays seeking romance in Thailand; has commentary sections about many aspects ofThai gay romantic culture; provides gay slang and phrases as well as anecdotes and stories; requires no previous knowledge of the Thai language; is written in a brisk, interesting style and is well organized with clear, easy to read postscript fonts; and is fun to use!

THAI FOR GAY TOURISTS is the perfect gay language guide for your journey to the Land of Smiles—Thailand! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Still relevant .... still helpful....
I bought this book back in 2003 or 4 or so before my second of third trip to Thailand.It was very helpful in helping me navigate the gay world of Thailand.. most useful in the world of bar boys and young thai boys (yes.. they call themselves boys if they are between 18-30 - something the book reveals). It's now 2010 and I still use the book for help with phrases and translations when chatting with some guys.Buy this.. my copy is well used (and I also lived in Thailand for two years and had a Thai boyfriend who moved to the USA with me.

Essential if you're gay and visiting Thailand
Even if you have had no prior knowledge of Thai, this book clearly presents the sound system and shows the Thai script. It provides ALL vocabulary relevant to gay life, and gives quite a bit of background from gay Thais about life in their country. My only caveat would be that it generally presents homosexuality as accepted and even celebrated there. This is a common presentation of gay life in many countries. However, one should always be aware that we are not the majority and there is bigotry everywhere. But with that in mind, I must say this is truly an impressive little book--it does a lot in a short space, the author is to be commended! ... Read more

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An introduction to the geography, history, economy, culture, and people of Thailand. ... Read more

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In this far-reaching examination of environmental problems and politics in northern Thailand, Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker analyze deforestation, water supply, soil erosion, use of agrochemicals, and biodiversity in order to challenge popularly held notions of environmental crisis. They argue that such crises have been used to support political objectives of state expansion and control in the uplands. They have also been used to justify the alternative directions advocated by an array of NGOs.

In official and alternative discourses of economic development, the peoples living in Thailand's hill country are typically cast as either guardians or destroyers of forest resources, often depending on their ethnicity. Political and historical factors have created a simplistic, misleading, and often scientifically inaccurate environmental narrative: Hmong farmers, for example, are thought to exhibit environmentally destructive practices, whereas the Karen are seen as linked to and protective of their ancestral home. Forsyth and Walker reveal a much more complex relationship of hill farmers to the land, to other ethnic groups, and to the state. They conclude that current explanations fail to address the real causes of environmental problems and unnecessarily restrict the livelihoods of local people.

The authors' critical assessment of simplistic environmental narratives, as well as their suggestions for finding solutions, will be valuable in international policy discussions about environmental issues in rapidly developing countries.Moreover, their redefinition of northern Thailand's environmental problems, and their analysis of how political influences have reinforced inappropriate policies, demonstrate new ways of analyzing how environmental science and knowledge are important arenas for political control.

This book makes valuable contributions to Thai studies and more generally to the fields of environmental science, ecology, geography, anthropology, and political science, as well as to policy making and resource management in the developing world. ... Read more

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This is the first of two volumes about Thai elephants. This volume portrays the plight of wild and domesticated elephants in modern Thailand. It shows how domesticated elephants are employed both in the timber industry and in the many elephant camps for tourists around the country. It describes in detail the distinct elephant-keeping traditions of the various ethnic groups in the country that have an association with elephants, namely the Tai-speaking Thai (Central Thai), Southern Thai, Yuan, Tai Yai (Shan), Tai Lue, Tai Yong, Tai Khoen, Lao Isan, Khorat Thai and Phuan; the Mon-Khmer-speak ing Khmer, Kui, Mon, Khamu, Mpi and Lawap; as well as the Sino-Tibetan-speaking Karen. It also provides information about the characteristics and status of those quintessentially Thai beasts, the Royal White Elephants. All this is complemented by over 110 illustrations and an extensive bibliography. A second volume, Elephants in Thailand-Through the Ages, which is in preparation, sketches the importance of the association between elephant and man since the dawn of history, both in general and throughout Thai history in particular. It explains why the elephant is so deeply rooted in Thai mythology and fiction and why it has been the national symbol for centuries. It shows the Siamese kings as great warriors on elephant back since Sukhothai times, the wild elephant round-ups at the Royal Elephant kraals in Ayutthaya and Lop Buri and explains the importance of white elephants for king and nation. The text is complemented by further illustrations. Other volumes about Asian elephants are also in course of preparation. ... Read more

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Dress, Textiles, and Identity of the Black Tai of Loei Province, Northeast Thailand examines the contemporary role of traditional and tradition-based Black Tai textiles and dress as material and symbolic representations of Black Tai ethnic and socio-cultural identity. The analysis of textiles and ethnic dress reveals that dress and textiles serve a crucial role in ethnic and cultural continuity among the Black Tai peoples. Although a number of types of traditional textiles have been lost due to acculturation and commercialization, textiles continue to figure prominently in the religious beliefs and practices of the Tai Dam as well as serving as markers of status, functioning to promote cultural and social cohesion, and more recently serving as a means of economic development. ... Read more