Disturbing Conventions Decentering Thai Literary Cultures

An interdisciplinary collection that seeks to explore Thai literature in the wider context of the global perspectives, themes and debates within the study of World Literature. In the wake of recent unrest in the country, it offers a rare insight into the unique cultural, political and historical context of Thailand.

'Located at the crossroads of postcolonial studies, literary theory, and world literature, Disturbing Conventions opens out a fascinating field of contemporary literary production and theoretical reflection. This wide-ranging collection should be read by anyone interested in thinking freshly about the uses and transformations of global theory in a complex and contested local environment.' David Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature, Harvard University 'Disturbing Conventions challenges head on the conservative nationalist ideology that has dominated Thai literary studies, assembling for the first time in one volume many of the leading figures bringing critical theoretical perspectives to Thai cultural studies and comparative literature. In throwing down the gauntlet to postcolonial studies to incorporate semicolonial societies into a genuinely global critique of imperialism this book places modern Thai literature centre-stage in debates on the direction of 21st century critical theory.' Peter Jackson, Professor of Thai Cultural Studies, Australian National University ' Through an extraordinarily lively critical conversation and pathbreaking analytical work, Disturbing Conventions pokes at taboos in Thai literary culture, unearths alternative genealogies, and suggests new methodologies and avenues of enquiry. A must read for anyone interested in critical Asian Studies, Disturbing Conventions offers exciting possibilities for comparative work in Cultural Studies' Francesca Orsini, Professor of Hindi and SouthAsian Literature, SOAS University of London. Disturbing Conventions draws the study of Thai literature out of the relative isolation that has to date impeded its participation in the wider field of comparative and world literature. Predominantly penned by Thai academics, the collection decentres Thai literary studies in order to move beyond the traditionalist, conservative concerns of the academy which have, until relatively recently, foreclosed the use of “Western” theory in the study of Thai literature. The book introduces new frames of analysis to the study of Thai literature to bring it into dialogue with debates in wider fields and the world beyond its national borders. As a result, Disturbing Conventions offers an essential contribution to the comparative study of world literature and Asian cultural studies. Rachel V. Harrison is Reader in Thai Cultural Studies at SOAS, University of London. She is the co-editor, with Peter A. Jackson, of The Ambiguous Allure of the West: Traces of the Colonial in Thailand. She is also editor of the journal South East Asia Research.

Disturbing Conventions draws the study of Thai literature out of the relative isolation that has to date impeded its participation in the wider field of comparative and world literature. Predominantly penned by Thai academics, the collection decentres Thai literary studies in order to move beyond the traditionalist, conservative concerns of the academy which have, until relatively recently, foreclosed the use of “Western” theory in the study of Thai literature. The book introduces new frames of analysis to the study of Thai literature to bring it into dialogue with debates in wider fields and the world beyond its national borders. As a result, Disturbing Conventions offers an essential contribution to the comparative study of world literature and Asian cultural studies.