IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM A.D. mainland Southeast Asia's first then in the span of a few centuries ... more IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM A.D. mainland Southeast Asia's first then in the span of a few centuries these Indianized realms collapse and their Pyu, Mon, Khmer, and Cham peoples decline. In their place Burmese, Tai, and Vietnamese states arise and go on to rule the mainland as their peoples come to dominate the second millennium. Case by case these shifts appear to be ethnic and political successions wherein the strong displace the weak, but seen together regionally the similarities suggest an agricultural change whereby an irrigated wet rice specialization from upland valleys displaced gardening and farming complexes native to the lowlands.
Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social... more Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social and especially material changes drive religious ones. So a new middle class causes religious ferment while a crisis in legitimacy explains a militant Buddhist movement as well as the fervour for amulets and forest monks. Such explanations are typical in using extra-religious current events to explain religious change. We need not dispute their specific interpretations to make a larger historical point: today's religious changes are, if only in part, the unintended consequences of a century and a half of Sangha reform that has undermined the local Buddhism of the temple or wat. In effect centralizing reforms took the wat away from locals and, by driving folk practices out of the temple, fostered today's religious "free market". This long-term institutional shift, changing the wat's place in Thai society, can be the context for understanding today's religious changes.
Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social... more Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social and especially material changes drive religious ones. So a new middle class causes religious ferment while a crisis in legitimacy explains a militant Buddhist movement as well as the fervour for amulets and forest monks. Such explanations are typical in using extra-religious current events to explain religious change. We need not dispute their specific interpretations to make a larger historical point: today's religious changes are, if only in part, the unintended consequences of a century and a half of Sangha reform that has undermined the local Buddhism of the temple or wat. In effect centralizing reforms took the wat away from locals and, by driving folk practices out of the temple, fostered today's religious "free market". This long-term institutional shift, changing the wat's place in Thai society, can be the context for understanding today's religious changes.
Anthropologists often treat law as a discrete subject classified with politics and power and stud... more Anthropologists often treat law as a discrete subject classified with politics and power and studied by nomothetic constructs. This treatment presupposes the place of law in society and denies history. To see law as a culturally constituted mode of analysis that projects an indigenous theory of society is to view a society in its own idiographic terms, and thereby demonstrate that it need not fit pre-established classification and constructs. Traditional Siamese Thai law is presented as an indigenous and historical theory of society that links law with religion and meaning.
The paper describes how the people of Bangkok perceive their city. Their image is rooted in hist... more The paper describes how the people of Bangkok perceive their city. Their image is rooted in history and culture and differs significantly from economic models of urban life.
A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures, edited by Mogens Herman Hansenn, 2000
The Tai muang, the Malay negeri and the Greek polis all developed as entrepreneurial city-states ... more The Tai muang, the Malay negeri and the Greek polis all developed as entrepreneurial city-states in the interstices between great empires.
Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 2006
The article addresses Robert Wessing's analysis of Javanese spirit. It places Java's animism at ... more The article addresses Robert Wessing's analysis of Javanese spirit. It places Java's animism at the meeting of three discourses: how rice agriculture organizes rural life, the idea of custom (adapt) and the region's ontological pluralism
Interviews with recovered anorexics in Tennessee, U. S. A., and Toronto, Canada, refute popular s... more Interviews with recovered anorexics in Tennessee, U. S. A., and Toronto, Canada, refute popular stereotypes and question anorexia's medicalization. Instead of adolescent girls literally dying for looks, putting anorexics in their life‐world and life‐course context shows youthful ascetics—male as well as female—obsessing over not beauty but self‐control, a cardinal contemporary virtue. What makes anorexia into a medical mystery as well as a personal tragedy is how the Cartesian dualism of modern thought splits mind from body. Here anthropology can act as a cultural broker, translating a biocultural disease for today's biology‐or‐culture thinking.
The recovered hold anorexia’s key. That’s a new thought, even to them. In interviewing recovered ... more The recovered hold anorexia’s key. That’s a new thought, even to them. In interviewing recovered anorexics in Tennessee and Toronto, we heard how their illness still mystifies them. One by one, no one had anything more than guesses about how it had all happened. Yet piecing their stories together revealed two pieces of the puzzle no one had noticed missing: anorexia is an activity disorder that almost always is also a developmental disorder.
Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal., 2015
Sermons in the Culture of Buddhism — Discussant’s Remarks. Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisci... more Sermons in the Culture of Buddhism — Discussant’s Remarks. Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 2015.
The Power of Place in Learning. Co-authored with Scott Bennett. Planning for Higher Education 3... more The Power of Place in Learning. Co-authored with Scott Bennett. Planning for Higher Education 33,4:28-30. June-August, 2005
Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990
Siamese Tai in Tai Context: The Impact of a Ruling Center. Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Jou... more Siamese Tai in Tai Context: The Impact of a Ruling Center. Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 5,1: 1-21. 1990.
Culture and the Environment in Thailand: A Symposium of the Siam Society., 1989
From 'Fertility' to 'Order,' Paternalism to Profits: The Thai City's Impact on the Culture-Envir... more From 'Fertility' to 'Order,' Paternalism to Profits: The Thai City's Impact on the Culture-Environment Interface. In, Culture and the Environment in Thailand: A Symposium of the Siam Society. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp393-414. 1989.
, Southeast Asian Studies for the 21st Century, 2003
Critiquing the Critique of Southeast Asia: Beyond Texts and States to Culture History. In, Sout... more Critiquing the Critique of Southeast Asia: Beyond Texts and States to Culture History. In, Southeast Asian Studies for the 21st Century, edited Anthony Reid. Tempe: Arizona State University Program in Southeast Asian Studies. 2003
Breastfeeding as Custom not Culture: Cutting Meaning Down to Size. Co-authored with Penny Van E... more Breastfeeding as Custom not Culture: Cutting Meaning Down to Size. Co-authored with Penny Van Esterik. Anthropology Today 28,5:13-16, 24-25. 2012.
De-medicalizing Anorexia: A New Cultural Brokering. Co-authored with Penny Van Esterik. Anthro... more De-medicalizing Anorexia: A New Cultural Brokering. Co-authored with Penny Van Esterik. Anthropology Today, 24,5:6-9. October, 2009.
Urban Society in Southeast Asia: Vol 2: Political and Cultural Issues, , 1988
In, Urban Society in Southeast Asia: Vol 2: Political and Cultural Issues, edited by G. H. Kr... more In, Urban Society in Southeast Asia: Vol 2: Political and Cultural Issues, edited by G. H. Krausse. Hong Kong: Asian Research Service. pp251-266. 1988
In, State Power and Culture in Thailand, ed. by E. Paul Durrenberger. New Haven: Yale Universi... more In, State Power and Culture in Thailand, ed. by E. Paul Durrenberger. New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies. pp68-99. 1996.
IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM A.D. mainland Southeast Asia's first then in the span of a few centuries ... more IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM A.D. mainland Southeast Asia's first then in the span of a few centuries these Indianized realms collapse and their Pyu, Mon, Khmer, and Cham peoples decline. In their place Burmese, Tai, and Vietnamese states arise and go on to rule the mainland as their peoples come to dominate the second millennium. Case by case these shifts appear to be ethnic and political successions wherein the strong displace the weak, but seen together regionally the similarities suggest an agricultural change whereby an irrigated wet rice specialization from upland valleys displaced gardening and farming complexes native to the lowlands.
Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social... more Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social and especially material changes drive religious ones. So a new middle class causes religious ferment while a crisis in legitimacy explains a militant Buddhist movement as well as the fervour for amulets and forest monks. Such explanations are typical in using extra-religious current events to explain religious change. We need not dispute their specific interpretations to make a larger historical point: today's religious changes are, if only in part, the unintended consequences of a century and a half of Sangha reform that has undermined the local Buddhism of the temple or wat. In effect centralizing reforms took the wat away from locals and, by driving folk practices out of the temple, fostered today's religious "free market". This long-term institutional shift, changing the wat's place in Thai society, can be the context for understanding today's religious changes.
Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social... more Thai religion is changing. So is Thai society. To most scholars the connection is obvious: social and especially material changes drive religious ones. So a new middle class causes religious ferment while a crisis in legitimacy explains a militant Buddhist movement as well as the fervour for amulets and forest monks. Such explanations are typical in using extra-religious current events to explain religious change. We need not dispute their specific interpretations to make a larger historical point: today's religious changes are, if only in part, the unintended consequences of a century and a half of Sangha reform that has undermined the local Buddhism of the temple or wat. In effect centralizing reforms took the wat away from locals and, by driving folk practices out of the temple, fostered today's religious "free market". This long-term institutional shift, changing the wat's place in Thai society, can be the context for understanding today's religious changes.
Anthropologists often treat law as a discrete subject classified with politics and power and stud... more Anthropologists often treat law as a discrete subject classified with politics and power and studied by nomothetic constructs. This treatment presupposes the place of law in society and denies history. To see law as a culturally constituted mode of analysis that projects an indigenous theory of society is to view a society in its own idiographic terms, and thereby demonstrate that it need not fit pre-established classification and constructs. Traditional Siamese Thai law is presented as an indigenous and historical theory of society that links law with religion and meaning.
The paper describes how the people of Bangkok perceive their city. Their image is rooted in hist... more The paper describes how the people of Bangkok perceive their city. Their image is rooted in history and culture and differs significantly from economic models of urban life.
A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures, edited by Mogens Herman Hansenn, 2000
The Tai muang, the Malay negeri and the Greek polis all developed as entrepreneurial city-states ... more The Tai muang, the Malay negeri and the Greek polis all developed as entrepreneurial city-states in the interstices between great empires.
Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 2006
The article addresses Robert Wessing's analysis of Javanese spirit. It places Java's animism at ... more The article addresses Robert Wessing's analysis of Javanese spirit. It places Java's animism at the meeting of three discourses: how rice agriculture organizes rural life, the idea of custom (adapt) and the region's ontological pluralism
Interviews with recovered anorexics in Tennessee, U. S. A., and Toronto, Canada, refute popular s... more Interviews with recovered anorexics in Tennessee, U. S. A., and Toronto, Canada, refute popular stereotypes and question anorexia's medicalization. Instead of adolescent girls literally dying for looks, putting anorexics in their life‐world and life‐course context shows youthful ascetics—male as well as female—obsessing over not beauty but self‐control, a cardinal contemporary virtue. What makes anorexia into a medical mystery as well as a personal tragedy is how the Cartesian dualism of modern thought splits mind from body. Here anthropology can act as a cultural broker, translating a biocultural disease for today's biology‐or‐culture thinking.
The recovered hold anorexia’s key. That’s a new thought, even to them. In interviewing recovered ... more The recovered hold anorexia’s key. That’s a new thought, even to them. In interviewing recovered anorexics in Tennessee and Toronto, we heard how their illness still mystifies them. One by one, no one had anything more than guesses about how it had all happened. Yet piecing their stories together revealed two pieces of the puzzle no one had noticed missing: anorexia is an activity disorder that almost always is also a developmental disorder.
Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal., 2015
Sermons in the Culture of Buddhism — Discussant’s Remarks. Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisci... more Sermons in the Culture of Buddhism — Discussant’s Remarks. Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 2015.
The Power of Place in Learning. Co-authored with Scott Bennett. Planning for Higher Education 3... more The Power of Place in Learning. Co-authored with Scott Bennett. Planning for Higher Education 33,4:28-30. June-August, 2005
Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990
Siamese Tai in Tai Context: The Impact of a Ruling Center. Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Jou... more Siamese Tai in Tai Context: The Impact of a Ruling Center. Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 5,1: 1-21. 1990.
Culture and the Environment in Thailand: A Symposium of the Siam Society., 1989
From 'Fertility' to 'Order,' Paternalism to Profits: The Thai City's Impact on the Culture-Envir... more From 'Fertility' to 'Order,' Paternalism to Profits: The Thai City's Impact on the Culture-Environment Interface. In, Culture and the Environment in Thailand: A Symposium of the Siam Society. Bangkok: The Siam Society. pp393-414. 1989.
, Southeast Asian Studies for the 21st Century, 2003
Critiquing the Critique of Southeast Asia: Beyond Texts and States to Culture History. In, Sout... more Critiquing the Critique of Southeast Asia: Beyond Texts and States to Culture History. In, Southeast Asian Studies for the 21st Century, edited Anthony Reid. Tempe: Arizona State University Program in Southeast Asian Studies. 2003
Breastfeeding as Custom not Culture: Cutting Meaning Down to Size. Co-authored with Penny Van E... more Breastfeeding as Custom not Culture: Cutting Meaning Down to Size. Co-authored with Penny Van Esterik. Anthropology Today 28,5:13-16, 24-25. 2012.
De-medicalizing Anorexia: A New Cultural Brokering. Co-authored with Penny Van Esterik. Anthro... more De-medicalizing Anorexia: A New Cultural Brokering. Co-authored with Penny Van Esterik. Anthropology Today, 24,5:6-9. October, 2009.
Urban Society in Southeast Asia: Vol 2: Political and Cultural Issues, , 1988
In, Urban Society in Southeast Asia: Vol 2: Political and Cultural Issues, edited by G. H. Kr... more In, Urban Society in Southeast Asia: Vol 2: Political and Cultural Issues, edited by G. H. Krausse. Hong Kong: Asian Research Service. pp251-266. 1988
In, State Power and Culture in Thailand, ed. by E. Paul Durrenberger. New Haven: Yale Universi... more In, State Power and Culture in Thailand, ed. by E. Paul Durrenberger. New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies. pp68-99. 1996.
What can you do? You likely feel helpless. I did.1 When anorexia seized my daughter I couldn't st... more What can you do? You likely feel helpless. I did.1 When anorexia seized my daughter I couldn't stop her starving. Neither could she. Sooner or later helplessness swallows all anorexics. Then some give up. But others get out. How? We've gathered their answers. So that's something you can do-listen to the recovered. What can the recovered teach us?
Review of "Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation." By Thongchai Winichakul. Jour... more Review of "Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation." By Thongchai Winichakul. Journal of Asian Studies 56,1: 279-281. 1997
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1983
The monograph presents a deep cultural history of the Southeast Asian city. How the region's cit... more The monograph presents a deep cultural history of the Southeast Asian city. How the region's cities first arose established patterns that continue to shape urban life
Uploads
Papers by Richard O'Connor
Mon, Khmer, and Cham peoples decline. In their place Burmese, Tai, and Vietnamese states arise and go on to rule the mainland as their peoples come to dominate the second millennium. Case by case these shifts appear to be ethnic and political successions wherein the strong displace the weak, but seen together regionally the similarities suggest an agricultural change whereby an irrigated wet rice specialization from upland valleys displaced gardening and farming complexes native to the lowlands.
Mon, Khmer, and Cham peoples decline. In their place Burmese, Tai, and Vietnamese states arise and go on to rule the mainland as their peoples come to dominate the second millennium. Case by case these shifts appear to be ethnic and political successions wherein the strong displace the weak, but seen together regionally the similarities suggest an agricultural change whereby an irrigated wet rice specialization from upland valleys displaced gardening and farming complexes native to the lowlands.