Last month I went to the AsiaNetwork conference in San Antonio, Tx. It's a small network of liberal arts colleges primarily in the US promoting Asian studies, and the university I work at is an affiliate member. Pornsak and I went as representatives to built ties with other schools and to present a paper we've been working on for the past year and a half. The title of our presentation captures the main point well: "Oblique Intervention: The Role of US Missionaries in Siam’s Incorporation of Lanna—1867-1878." In addition to looking at the missionaries part in the how Siam came to incorparate the Lanna Kingdom of which Chiang Mai was the capital, we also looked at the strong relationship the missionaries had with the Siamese monarchy and government. They came to be quite trusted and were heavily involved in projects to improve the country such as health care, education, urban planning, printing, advising the King, and so on. It was great to get some feedback, and meet people interested in this part of the world. We really appreciated having the opportunity to participate in the conference and share our work.
I've enjoyed all of my trips to San Antonio. The conference was right on the Riverwalk, which is a great place to be. You really feel like you're right in the heart of Mexico in San Antonio, and the Tex-Mex mix is still very much alive. Trinity University president hosted us one afternoon his house with Tex-Mex food, drinks, and a mariachi band. At one point I got a bit excited about the band and started requesting songs and singing along loudly--all the academics were loosened up enough by then to really appreciate that! Luckily for us the city was also having a cultural festival that same weekend, so we got to enjoy that as well. As conferences go, this one had minimal academic ego-tripping, and was very congenial. Couple that with a fun location, and family visits we got to do, made for a really nice trip. Plus, I think we must have gained at least three pounds from all the Mexican food we ate while we were there!
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"Oblique Intervention" is finally out! You may find it in print at:
http://www.journalofworldchristianity.org/ (download if free at the moment)
Paul and I have labored on this in the hot Payap archives for two years, and have navigated the minefields of Thai bureaucracy without being blown up, so we are extremely happy to see it in print. Two Thai readers have already offered to print in Thai, claiming it will be big if it is. A little nervous about that but one step at a time.
We will be presenting this paper tomorrow Feb 12, so please come to the lecture if you're interested:
"Oblique Intervention: The Role of US Missionaries in Siam's Incorporation of Lanna - 1867-1878." Thursday, February 12, 5-6pm, in the William J. Yoder Room, First Floor, McGilvary College of Divinity.
(For more information see: http://ic.payap.ac.th/current-students/calendar.php?id=229&skip=0)
Thanks especially to Paul, Don Swearer, Mark Tamthai, and Patrick Provost-Smith.
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