Of Concubines and Crypto-Colonialism: the Making of Modern Thailand w/ Leslie Woodhouse

Southeast Asia Crossroads Podcast - CSEAS @ NIU

In this podcast Drs Jones and Kanjana sit down with Dr. Leslie Castro-Woodhouse about her book, Woman between Two Kingdoms: Dara Rasami and the Making of Modern Thailand. They will discuss a northern Thai consort named Dara Rasami played a critical role in Siam’s effort to emulate a European-style “hierarchy of civilizations” in building a modern nation-state. The trajectory of Dara’s 24-year career as an ethnic outsider within the rarefied space of the Siamese Inner Palace illuminates both Siam’s crypto-colonial strategies to assimilate regional elites, and women’s importance to Thai political history.