Lan Na and Beyond, the International Conference on Lan Na Studies and research on Northern Thailand and its related neighboring countries, will be held on 29-30 August 2025 at Chiang Mai University. Lan Na and Beyond aims to call for panels and individual papers related to 5 themes—1) Revisiting Lan Na, 2) Emerging Issues, 3) Old and newcomers, 4) Connecting with Neighbors, and 5) Creative Lan Na.
This theme aims to review the directions and what the research on Lan Na and Northern Thailand together with neighboring countries had previously been conducted. To revisit is to address the state of knowledge of Lan Na Studies, shortcomings, illusive views, and so forth in order to be able to transcend existing barriers and propose new directions.
This theme involves emerging issues—environment and climate change, health, globalization, development, innovation, urbanization, gender and sexuality, as well as contemporary culture and society in Northern Thailand and beyond.
This theme is related to issues of old and newcomers, the Tai and the non-Tai people, the Westerners, people mobility, regional immigrants, illicit Chinese businessmen, capitalists at local, regional, and transnational levels, and outsiders’ perception of Lan Na.
This theme focuses on a history of the Lan Na state and its territory, transborder trade, Lan Na’s relationship with related regions, inter-regional investment, and infrastructure policy.
This theme covers academic issues, i.e. contemporary media, arts, and culture, architecture, Lan Na heritage, as well as food and tourism in Northern Thailand and the Upper Mekong region.
| Regular Registration (7 - 30 Apr 2025) |
|
|---|---|
| Presentations | |
| Student Presenters | 800 THB (25 USD) |
| Non-student Presenters | 1,200 THB (45 USD) |
| Audience | |
| Student | 800 THB (25 USD) |
| Non-student | 1,200 THB (45 USD) |
| Professor Dr. Katherine A. Bowie | The Department of Anthropology and Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Associate Professor Dr. Pinyapan Potjanalawan | Lampang Rajabhat University |
| No. | Name | Topic/Title/Theme of the Panel | Position and institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kwanchewan Buadaeng (Chair of the Panel) |
Foreign Missionaries in Lanna and Beyond: Strategies, Self-Transformation and Legacy from the Cold War Era | Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 1.1 | Kengkij Kitirianglarp | Footprints Across Centuries: The Young Legacy of Cross, Crown, and Creature | Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 1.2 | Sinae Hyun | Making an American’s War: The Young Family’s Mission in Lanna and Beyond during the Cold War | Research Professor, Institute for East Asian Studies, Sogang University |
| 1.3 | Prasit Leepreecha | Christian Conversion Strategies Among the Highlanders | Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences & Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 1.4 | Kwanchewan Buadaeng | Missionaries and Their Self-Transformation | Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| No. | Name | Topic/Title/Theme of the Panel | Position and institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Xiaoyan Long (Chair of the Panel) |
Sipsong Panna and Lanna: Connections, mobilities and divergences | Professor, School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University |
| 2.1 | Sirui Dao | From Chiang Mai to Kiulungkiang: The American Presbyterians’ Translation of the Tai Lue version of the New Testament | Lecturer, Yunnan University |
| 2.2 | Wanjiao Yu | Female Aesthetic Labor, Cultural Heritage, and Ethnic Modernity: Tai Lue Businesswomen in Transnational Connectivity | Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 2.3 | Xiaoyan Long | Marginalizing Memories: Life Histories and Identities of the Diaspora Tai Lue People in Northern Thailand | Professor, School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University |
| 2.4 | Roger Casas | “Lanna Buddhism”: A Reappraisal | Independent researcher |
| No. | Name | Topic/Title/Theme of the Panel | Position and institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Simon Rowedder (Chair of the Panel) |
Lan Na On the Edge | National University of Singapore |
| 3.1 | Simon Rowedder and Shu Liu | Lan Na Through Chinese Eyes: Academic Inquiry and Cultural Imagination | National University of Singapore and independent researcher |
| 3.2 | Wasan Panyagaew | Transformation of Jinghong/Ching Hung, Part III | Associate Professor, Chiang Mai University |
| 3.3 | Sowaree Chaiwan | Chiang Rai, A New Hub of Overland Transportation of upper Mekong Borderlands | Chiang Mai University |
| No. | Name | Topic | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petra Lemberger | From Bars to Books: Sex Entertainment, Higher Education, and the Social (Re-) Construction of Aging Masculinities in Chiang Mai | Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Chiang Mai University |
| 2 | Pornpin Matungka* | The Case Study of Promoting Culinary Tourism in Chiang Mai in Forms of Local Northern Thai Food Commodities for Supporting Local Traditional Heritage Cuisine and Tourism Sustainability | Mahidol University |
| 3 | Maya Dania | Spectral Mekong, Eco-Ghosted Waters: The Naga's Hauntology and More-Than-Human Futures in the Anthropocene | Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 4 | Reni Juwitasari | Living with Fire in the Pyrocene: A Case Study of Forest Fire in Wiang Kaen, Thailand | Asian Research Center for International Development (ARCID), School of Social Innovation, Mae Fah Luang University |
| 5 | Waraporn Ruangsri | Life history of People and Things on Salween River Basin | Department of History, Chiang Mai University |
| 6 | Urai Yangcheepsutjarit | Hmong Market in Kad Luang: Weaving Craft Economy and Ethnic Visibility in Contemporary Lanna | Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 7 | Brang Lat | Sustaining Kachin Ethnic Identity Through the Representation of Ethnic Restaurants in Chiang Mai, Thailand. | Chiang Mai University |
| 8 | Noah Tanigawa | A (Waste) Crisis in Ecotourism? Understanding perceptions and power in Maekampong Village, Thailand | Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University |
| 9 | Salai Vanni Bawi | Burmese in Lanna Land: Mapping Cultural Identities in Chiang Mai’s Urban Fabric | Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University |
| 10 | Shahinur Akter and Aranya Siriphon | Prevalence of diarrhea among under-five children and the influencing factors in southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh | Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| 11 | Tan Soon Aun | Loneliness and Sexting Behavior Among Emerging Adults: A Moderated Mediation Model of Sexual Intention and Gender in a Conservative Society | Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia |
| 12 | Klemens Karlsson | Lan Na Buddhist Culture between National Borders | Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University |
| 13 | Alejandro Huete | Making Waste Legible: Thailand’s National Plans and their hegemonic currents through time (1961-2022) | Chiang Mai University |
| 14 | Alejandro Huete | Waste Reclaiming as an Act of Autonomy: Street Waste Reclaimers in Chiang Mai, Thailand | Chiang Mai University |
| 15 | Jeffrey Moynihan | Urban taste: Khao soi and being "khon muang" in northern Thailand, past, present future | Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University |
| Activities | Deadlines |
|---|---|
| 1. Call for panels & papers | 27 January – 31 March 2025 |
| 2. Announcement of selected panels and individual papers | 4 April 2025 |
| 3. Registration | 17 March – 30 April 2025 |
| 4. Abstract submission | 30 April 2025 |
| 5. Submission of full papers | 5 May 2025 |
| 6. Announcement of all participants and the Conference program | 9 May 2025 |
| 7. Presentation | 29-30 August 2025 |
