Thai Political Scholar to Teach a Course on Southeast Asian States
In September, Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun from Thailand is visiting the School of Humanities to teach a course on the subject "Southeast Asian States and Societies", which he describes as follows: "Saying the unsayable of Southeast Asia".
The course begins on 6 September and takes place on Thursdays and Fridays until the end of September.
Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a prominent Thai political scholar as he actively posts on his Facebook page, which is followed by 141,000 people, and gives comments about the current political situation in Thailand on international media.
After the Thai political crisis in 2014, Pavin was called on the carpet twice by the military junta because of his statements. But, he ignored their orders, and was charged with lèse-majesté. At the moment, Pavin resides in Japan as he cannot return to Thailand due to the the current political regime.
Pavin holds a PhD in Political Science (2002) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Currently, he is an associate professor at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He is the author of the following books: Good Coup Gone Bad: Thailand’s Political Developments Since Thaksin’s Downfall, A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations, and Reinventing Thailand: Thaksin and His Foreign Policy. He is also a chief editor of Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia.
Pavin has visited Tallinn University in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, he was a speaker at the conference Multiple Lives of Democracy: from Europe to Asia-Pacific (video here), and in 2015, he was a visiting researcher to teach the course on Southeast Asian States and Societies.
