New Mandala

The Mekong region continues to hold fascination for conference goers. Another opportunity is being hosted next January by the Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development in Chiang Mai. I’m a big fan of a focus on the Mekong, though I do sometimes wonder if a hydrological entity is an any more legitimate basis for [...]

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Try this screen saver download for something completely different. We are not in the business of regularly recommending this sort of thing but this work of art may well be the New Mandala we have been looking for!

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I have just finished reading Paul Handley’s biography of Thailand’s King Bhumiphol. The book is banned in Thailand and there are even reports that access to the web site of the book’s publisher has been blocked by Thai internet service providers. There is certainly much in the book that would cause grave offence to Thais, [...]

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The debacle of Thailand’s April election has hit some people very hard. Not the government which claimed victory with over 50 percent of the vote. And not the boycotting opposition parties that claimed a moral victory with a no-vote of around 30 percent. But the three Election Commission members sentenced on Tuesday to 4 years [...]

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It’s always nice to know that the village where you are doing research is at risk of landslides and flash floods! That is what this recently erected sign advised me earlier this month.

Given that upland deforestation is often cited as one of the primary causes of flash flooding (in Thailand and in many other parts [...]

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From Manager Online a fascinating report from Chiang Mai. On 17 July about 50 members of the “Chiang Mai Hak Chaat” (Chiang Mai love the nation) group assembled near the Suan Prung gate of Chiang Mai city to curse the enemies of Thaksin. Under the direction of a spirit doctor (mor phi) they performed a ritual [...]

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Throughout mainland Southeast Asia trees are often seen as sources of sacred power. Tutelary spirits throughout the region are often associated with large trees. In modern resource management discourses trees are credited with the power to prevent both floods and drought. A recent front page article in The Nation (8 July) suggests that trees can [...]

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A little outside NewMandala’s region, but given our interest in McDonalds this cannot be ignored. My colleague, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt writes: “Recently the Time magazine had a cover story on the ‘New India’, post-economic reforms & globalisation. The world is going ga ga over the 10%+ economic growth rate of India, the number of car sales [...]

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Maylee Thavat writes: “Making rice noodles - a rare sight in a Cambodian village. Typically one hour of pounding this rice and water mixture results in one kilo of rice noodles that can be sold for $0.25. Opportunity costs for labour intensive, on-farm noodle-making are high especially given the flood of industrially produced cheap and popular [...]

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Regular readers of NewMandala (I am sure there are some!) will have noticed that Nich Farrelly has gone missing. Earlier this month he was sighted diligently blogging in northern Thailand.

But since then he has gone very quiet. No more blogs on Bangkok nightlife, McDonalds or the popularity of yellow shirts. He was last seen boarding a songthaew [...]

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