Close-ups

What do you teach at Ca’ Foscari? What are your main research interests? 
At Ca' Foscari I teach Thai language, Southeast Asian literature and Southeast Asian religions. The latter course reflects my research interests, which revolve around the relation between religion and power in contemporary Thailand. Specifically, I have researched the current conception of Buddhist monarchy, the use of astrology by politicians and activists and how marginalised individuals take on the role of medium as a vehicle for social redemption. I trained in cultural anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London and previously taught at the Thammasat University in Bangkok. Before moving to Venice in 2020, I was a researcher at Kyoto University.

What led you to pursue a research career? What are you most passionate about in your field of study? 
My first encounter with Thailand at the beginning of the new millennium and several years of living in the country led me to look to anthropology for tools to understand a society that is as fascinating as it is marked by huge economic inequalities. The trauma of a political crisis that suddenly burst into violence in 2010 led me to fully dedicate myself to research. The relevance of these issues keeps motivating me today, and religion, expressed in people's everyday lives, is for me a privileged place to observe new political and economic ambitions.

What does teaching at the university mean to you?
For me, university teaching is an opportunity to share and discuss. I share with Ca' Foscari students the theoretical and linguistic tools that form my perspective on Southeast Asian issues. At the same time, I refuse to impose a standard narrative on them and encourage each one to develop their own perspective through thinking exercises and discussions. I therefore ensure that there is always room for different voices and points of view in the classroom and that they can interact with each other. This makes the discussion an opportunity to expand your knowledge on the one hand and to develop strong argumentation skills on the other. 

You work in a department dealing with non-European worlds: what does working on cultural diversity mean to you in an increasingly interconnected world?
It means paying attention both to what makes us different and to what unites us. Perhaps misled by the very concept of "culture", we tend to believe that thought is somehow consistent in society, when in fact there is always great diversity within it, and each individual is as much a product of the space/time they live in as a creative actor. So, when I talk about Southeast Asia, I look at common ways of thinking and behaving, but at the same time I look at how each individual can develop their own identity as a result of the international influences that have always been present in the region. I think it is therefore important to understand that the Other, although different, also has so much in common with us, and that at the same time each of us is in some way the Other within our own society.