Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
Thongchai Winichakul examines how the kingdom of Siam came to be imagined as a modern nation during the nineteenth century, a period when competing ideas about territory, sovereignty and identity collided. Rather than treating the country's borders as a given, the book traces how the shape of the state was drawn and redrawn through mapmaking, political pressure and new notions of the nation itself.
Read more
The author argues that the physical and political outline of Thailand that many histories take for granted is in fact a product of that period and does not reflect earlier realities. By reading maps and official records against the older way of organising power, he shows that the modern geo-body was constructed, not discovered. The result is a careful challenge to much existing scholarship on Thai history, written for readers interested in nationhood, colonial pressure and the politics of representation.
Liked Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
Thailand: A Short History Shares Thailand, history, Southeast Asia -
A History of Thailand Shares Thailand, history, Southeast Asia -
Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times Shares Southeast Asia, history, nonfiction -
The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej Shares Thailand, Southeast Asia, history
