Learning to Govern: Disipline, ritual, and political networks at an elite Thai school

我的研究探讨了精英教育机构如何在当代泰国创建和维持有影响力的政治网络。在我的研究期间，我将出版一本关于Suan Kularb Wittayalai的机构民族志。Suan Kularb Wittayalai是泰国最古老的公立中学，也是七位总理的母校。通过在学校12个月的实地考察，以及广泛的历史档案分析，《学习治理：泰国精英学校的仪式、纪律和政治网络》揭示了这个“网络机构”鼓励和巩固军事、官僚和商业部门亲密政治集团的复杂过程。具体来说，我表明精英网络在泰国政治秩序中的主导地位并不是传统赞助模式的表现。相反，现代国家通过逐渐采用某些殖民技术，有意识地促进了这种关系。这些技术包括新的监督机制、发明的传统和纪律实践。当与当地的教学实践相结合时，这些技术产生了终生的兄弟义务情感，精英网络利用这些情感来消除对现行政治秩序的威胁。理解这些制度实践阐明并揭示了一些分析师所称的泰国的“平行”（Chambers和Napisa， 2020）或“深层”国家（m<s:1> rieau, 2016）。这本书探讨了殖民主义、亲属关系、暴力和记忆等主题，证明了精英学校未经研究的影响，以及它们对特权校友生活的深远影响。这本书将由康奈尔大学出版社出版。在学习期间，我还将继续与民间团体合作，努力改革泰国教育中的殖民主义做法。2020年10月，泰国政府宣布进入“严重紧急状态”，当时数千名学生抗议者走上街头，要求进行全面改革。通过艺术工作坊和与这些团体成员的虚拟互动，我将促进共同制作一个开放获取的泰语电子书，使用图像，引人入胜的人物和图形小说技术来绘制泰国教育实践的谱系。该项目将为实验和讨论成员的教育经验和改革想法提供一个安全的环境，这些经验和想法将吸引新的受众，并使利益相关者能够对一个高度热门的问题获得新的视角。该项目还将根据合作产生的发现和观察结果，为期刊文章提供基础。泰语和英语两种学术和流行出版物的结合，使该项目在实现充分的研究影响方面特别有效。我将分配25%的奖学金用于向学术和非学术受众传播我的研究。作为一名前泰国广播记者，我有能力通过一系列媒体干预来吸引公众对我的工作的兴趣，我的工作将在一个主要的泰语国家新闻节目“谈论泰国”和一个由北欧亚洲研究所制作的受欢迎的英语播客上播出。我将在康奈尔大学、新加坡国立大学、利兹大学、法政大学、亚非学院的专家们的讲座和研讨会上展示我的作品。我还将在2023年11月的美国人类学协会和2024年7月的欧洲会议上发表论文。通过这种有影响力的出版物、知识交流、直接用户参与和有效传播的结合，我将成为一名成功的研究人员，从事权力、精英、教育和东南亚研究的人类学工作。

My research explores how elite educational institutions create and maintain influential political networks in contemporary Thailand. During my fellowship I will publish an institutional ethnography of Suan Kularb Wittayalai, Thailand's oldest state-administered secondary school and alma mater to seven prime ministers. Drawing on twelve month's fieldwork at the school, as well as extensive historical archival analysis, Learning to Govern: Ritual, Discipline and Political Networks at an Elite Thai school, sheds light on the complex process through which this 'network institution' encourages and consolidates intimate political cliques across the military, bureaucracy, and commercial sectors. Specifically, I show that the dominance of elite networks in the Thai political order is not an expression of traditional patronage models. Rather, such relations have been consciously facilitated by the modern state through the gradual adoption of certain colonial technologies. These technologies include novel mechanisms of surveillance, invented tradition, and disciplinary practices. When integrated with local pedagogic practices, these technologies generate life-long sentiments of fraternal obligation, which are utilized by elite networks to neutralize threats to the prevailing political order. Understanding these institutional practices elucidates and demystifies what some analysts have called Thailand's 'parallel' (Chambers and Napisa, 2020) or 'deep' state (Mérieau, 2016). Exploring themes of colonialism, kinship, violence, and memory, the book is a testament to the unexamined influence of elite schools and the profound impact they have on the lives of their privileged alumni. It will be published by Cornell University Press. During the fellowship, I will also continue to collaborate with civil groups campaigning to reform these colonialist practices in Thai education. In October 2020, the Thai government declared a 'severe state of emergency' when thousands of student protesters took to the streets demanding sweeping reforms. Through artistic workshops and virtual interaction with members of these groups, I will facilitate the co-production of an open access Thai language e-book that uses images, engaging characters, and graphic novel techniques to map the genealogy of Thai educational practices. The project will provide a safe environment for experimentation and discussion of member's experiences of education and ideas for reform that will reach new audiences and allow stakeholders to gain fresh perspectives on a highly topical issue. The project will also provide the basis for a journal article based on the findings and observations that arise from the collaboration. This combination of academic and popular publications, both in Thai and English, makes this project particularly effective in achieving full research impact.I will allocate 25% of my fellowship to disseminating my research to academic and non-academic audiences. As a former broadcast journalist in Thailand, I am well placed to deliver a series of media interventions to engage public interest in my work, which will feature on a major Thai-language national news program, Talking Thailand, and a popular Anglophone podcast produced by the Nordic Asian Institute. I will present my work in lectures and workshops among specialists at Cornell University, National University of Singapore, Leeds University, Thammasat, SOAS. I will also present papers at the American Anthropological Association in November 2023 and the Euroseas Conference in July 2024. Through this combination of impactful publications, knowledge exchange, direct user engagement, and effective dissemination, I will establish myself as a successful researcher working across the anthropologies of power, elites, education, and Southeast Asian studies.