Teaching courses
Anthropological Theory.
This course investigates key ideas and thinkers in the modern development of anthropology as a study field. It focuses on some of the most important schools of thought and debates, particularly how people and societies can be examined and conceptualized in relation to cultural dynamics in the premodern era, the rise of modernism, postmodernism, and post-humanism.
In addition to an introduction to early ideas about society, the course is divided into three major sections: the basis of anthropological thinking, the main lines of theoretical development, and contemporary approaches in anthropology.
I have included pre-recorded lecture podcasts, slides, lecture notes, assigned readings, and links to supplementary media and information in this online platform. In addition to online self-study, students are encouraged to participate in weekly classroom discussions.
Political Anthropology
This course focuses on the political dimensions of anthropology. It starts with the idea of culture as a fundamental component of anthropology and examines how political cultures might contribute to a political vision that goes beyond institutional politics. After that, utilising both rural and urban study cases, the course explores cultural politics, particularly those related to identity and indigeneity, and how they are reflected in daily activities and life in Thailand. The political ecology and social movements—perceived as an active practise of politics connecting the spheres of nature and culture—are also covered in the course. However, the course argues that viewing these political entanglements from an operational perspective is insufficient. Instead, it's crucial to investigate how different ontologies and worlding practises can coexist in a cosmopolitics of cohabitation.
Thalasso-Anthropology.
This course dives into the world's oceans amidst the contemporary Anthropocene, analysing the relationship between anthropological research and the multiplicity of the oceans. Although earlier anthropological investigations may have touched upon maritime matters, their primary emphasis was on territorial-based exploration, the study of indigenous island communities, or the administration of resources derived from the sea. Nevertheless, as a consequence of persistent human-induced effects, most notably global warming and the subsequent disruption of ecological systems, the underwater environment of the ocean becomes a vital ecological system contending with these phenomena.
This course, based on my two-year underwater ethnographic fieldwork, aims to investigate posthumanist anthropology by addressing the emerging multispecies and neo-material waterscapes, particularly the entanglements of the current ecological crisis and concerns. In particular, the course attempts to provide a critical perspective on the interactions and shifting dynamics between humans, technology, underwater species, submerged objects, and the environmental imagination via underwater exploration.
Anthropology of Crime and Policing
This course explores the complex relationship between science, technology, and crime in contemporary society, utilising theoretical frameworks and perspectives from anthropology. The course covers a wide range of topics, including the history of crime and technology, the application of Actor-Network Theory to crime studies, surveillance in society, culture, and its algorithmic aspect, cybercrime, as well as the ethnography of crime and policing. By the end of the course, students will have gained a comprehensive understanding of the anthropological perspective on crime and policing, as well as the complex interplay between science, technology, and crime in contemporary society. They will be well-prepared to apply the theoretical frameworks and methodologies explored in the course to their own research and professional endeavours in the fields of criminology and justice administration.
Anthropology of Urban Dwelling and Design.
Many of the world's major cities, including Bangkok, are currently under pressure from population density, which has compelled city dwellers to live in higher-rise buildings. However, not everyone can afford such a luxury. As a result, many people are forced to live in cramped quarters and travel longer distances in order to work and live.
This course investigates the city's encounter with spatial limitation and attempts to comprehend how urban concerns influence housing design. And vice versa, how has changing urban housing design influenced city living? We will be paying attention to questions like: How will the move to more vertical housing affect different segments of the city's population when housing is more than just a place to live but also related to lifestyles, jobs, daily commutes, consumption, and relationships with others? Furthermore, what impact will this type of lifestyle have on the city as a whole?
Film, Fiction, and Anthropology
This course investigates anthropological possibilities through experimental thinking and imaginative illustration in films and fiction. We will focus on the intertwined processes of world-breaking and world-making, in which humans encounter a plethora of agents and changes brought about by climate, species, technology, extraterrestrials, human’s own alienation, and other living and nonliving "social" beings. We will be watching and reading selected sci-fi and cli-fi, some of which feature anthropologist as a protagonist, while others may employ anthropological debates as a backdrop or inspiration.
(Photo from Annihilation (2018) , film by Alex Garland, based on Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy—Annihilation (2014))