Andrew Walker, BA (Hons) (Sydney), PhD (ANU)
Fellow, Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program
Email: andrew.walker@anu.edu.au
Biographical Statement
Andrew has been working in mainland Southeast Asia since 1993 when he conducted PhD research on cross-border trading links between northern Thailand, northern Laos and southern China. For the past 10 years he has been working on issues of rural development, resource management and modernisation in northern Thailand. He is currently undertaking ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in Baan Tiam, a northern Thai village in Chiang Mai province.
Andrew is the co-founder of the New Mandala blog which provides anecdote, analysis and new perspectives on mainland southeast Asia. It is required reading for all serious scholars of the region.
Research Interests
Andrew's research interests include environmental management, rural development, agricultural modernisation, borders and borderlands, politics, ritual, spirits and coyote dancing. There are numerous posts on New Mandala about his research interests.
Key Publications
- (with T. Forsyth) Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008.
- The Rural Constitution and the Everyday Politics of Elections in Northern Thailand. Journal of Contemporary Asia 38(1): 84-105, 2008.
- Upper Mekong Borderline Dialogues in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century. In Y. Goudineau and M. Lorrillard (eds) Nouvelles Recherches sur le Laos. (Collection Etudes Thématiques). Paris: Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 2007.
- Matrilineal Spirits, Descent and Territorial Power in Northern Thailand. The Australian Journal of Anthropology 17(2): 196-215, 2006.
- Seeing Farmers for the Trees: Community Forestry and the Arborealisation of Agriculture in Northern Thailand. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 45(3): 311-324, 2004.
- Agricultural Transformation and the Politics of Hydrology in Northern Thailand. Development and Change 34(5): 941-964, 2003.
- The 'Karen Consensus', Ethnic Politics and Resource-Use Legitimacy in Northern Thailand. Asian Ethnicity 2(2): 145-162, 2001.
- The Legend of the Golden Boat: Regulation, Trade and Traders in the Borderlands of Laos, Thailand, Burma and China. (Anthropology of Asia Series). Richmond: Curzon Press, 1999.
Career Highlights
Co-founder of New Mandala blog - one of the world's leading blogs discussing mainland southeast Asia; Co-convenor of the Masters in Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development; ethnographic research in Laos and northern Thailand; consultancy work for the World Bank and AusAID; international advisory committee member for the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.
