Council on Thai Studies Coming Virtually to Ohio University
The annual Council on Thai Studies (COTS) conference will be hosted virtually by Ohio University on Nov. 12 and 13 with support from the Center for International Studies, the Contemporary History Institute and Ohio University Libraries. The conference is open to anyone and will include a variety of disciplines related to Thai studies, including language study, anthropology, politics and history. Registration is required for the events.
The COTS conference began in 1972 at Northern Illinois University and has met consecutively every year since. Jeff Shane, the subject librarian for Southeast Asia, is the chair of the organization and organizes the conference with his spouse, Pittaya Paladroi-Shane, OHIO’s World Languages coordinator and associate professor of Thai & World Languages in the Center for International Studies.
Each year, participants listen to presentations and papers to learn about research and creative activities going on in the field of Thai studies. Shane said that the field is small but tight-knit, and the conference is mostly a chance to connect with others interested in Thailand.
“This year is going to be very different from normal because it’s going to be done remotely,” Shane said. “It makes it a little more challenging in some ways, but at the same time it gives us a little more freedom in the sense that we can have people come in to participate from Thailand, Germany, Canada [and] all over the world.”
The conference will feature Dr. Jane Ferguson as the keynote speaker, who will be joining the faculty at OHIO in the spring 2022 as the Fuller Endowed Chair for Southeast Asian Studies. There will be around 50 other presentations during the conference from many different countries.
In addition, Shane is getting the chance to showcase some of his work with Paladroi-Shane on the Thai Film Project.
“For our part, [we] are collaborating with the Thai Film Archive in Bangkok, Thailand, to identify out-of-copyright Thai films. We are digitizing, translating and subtitling these films to promote Thai films and make them more accessible to the public,” he said.
“The Curse of the Order” is a black and white film that was completed in 1954, and Shane said it’s exciting because many Thai people have never even seen the film before.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun to show this for the first time,” he said.
The COTS conference is open to the public. Anyone can attend the presentations and seminars, even if they don’t specialize in Thai studies or just want to learn more about Thailand.
“The access to the actual conference is completely free. We’re making it widely available. People just have to go in and register and they’ll be able to access all of the different webinars and sessions,” Shane said.
He mentioned that the COTS conference places a lot of emphasis on the importance of bringing in undergraduate and graduate students to participate in the conference. It is an opportunity for any who want to participate in a conference with a “very collegial environment.”
Students studying Thai and other Southeast Asian languages or topics are encouraged to attend the event to learn more about Thailand and the careers that are available for those interested in pursuing Thai studies.
Register here for the conference and contact Jeff Shane at shane@ohio.edu for more information.