New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS)
AAS President Address
“Different Asian Studies: Looking Back and Looking Forward”
As Asian studies and the AAS is moving forward to engaging more with the production of the area studies knowledge in/from Asia itself, let us explore some fundamental differences of Asian studies due to the political economies of knowledge in this filed in various parts of the world.
Thongchai Winichakul is Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Madison. His book, Siam Mapped (1994) was awarded the Harry J Benda Prize from the Association for Asian Studies in 1995, and the Grand Prize from the Asian Affairs Research Council (Japan) in 2004. He was a recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Award in 1994 and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. His research interests are in cultural and intellectual history of Siam including nationalism, modern geography and cartography, and historical knowledge. He currently works on the intellectual foundation of modern Siam (1880s-1930s) and also a book on the memories of the 1976 massacre in Bangkok. He also publishes articles and books in Thai, including many political and social commentaries. He is currently the President of the Association for Asian Studies.