Education

Ph.D. Religions of Asia, 2018 University of Wisconsin—Madison
Dissertation: “Building Buddhism in Chiang Rai, Thailand: Construction as Religion.”
Advisor: Dr. Anne Hansen.

M.A. Southeast Asian Studies, 2011 University of Wisconsin—Madison
Thesis: “Imagining Boundaries: Sīmā Space, Lineage Trails, and Trans-Regional
Theravada Orthodoxy.” Advisor: Dr. Anne Hansen.

B.A. English, 2005 SUNY—New Paltz

National & International Research Fellowships & Awards

Pipeline Grant Fellow 2022–2023
Association for Asian Studies

Postdoctoral Fellow 2020–2021
Society for the Humanities, Cornell University.

Postdoctoral Researcher (Thailand) 2019-2020.
Australian Research Council Discovery Award (DP170104212) “Building India: Religion, Craft, and Infrastructure in Contemporary Asia.” Chief Investigators: Dr. Kirin Narayan and Dr. Ken George, The Australian National University.

Doctoral Fellow 2015-2016.
American Council of Learned Societies Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies Dissertation Fellowship.

Fulbright Fellow 2013–2014.
Fulbright IIE for dissertation research.

Research Scholar 2013–2014.
Empowering Network for International Thai Studies (ENITS) Grant, Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University.

Publications

2022. “The Buddha’s Busted Finger: Craft, Touch, and Cosmology in Theravada Buddhism.”
Journal of the American Academy of Religion

2022. “Reform: Ideas and Events in Modern Theravāda Reformism.”
In Routledge Handbook of Theravada Buddhism, edited by Stephen C. Berkwitz and Ashley Thompson.

2022. “Changing Sīmā, Changing World.”
In Sīmās: Histories, Practices and Politics, edited by Jason A. Carbine and Erik Davis.

2019. “Making a Modern Image of Jīvaka Komārabhacca.”
In Buddhism and Medicine: Modern and Contemporary Voices, edited by Pierce Salguero. New York: Columbia University Press.

2017. “Partners in Power and Perfection: Khruba, Construction, and Khu Barami in Chiang Rai, Thailand.”
In Charismatic Monks of Lanna Buddhism, edited by Paul Cohen. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press: 87–114.

2014. “Efficacious Space: An Introduction.”
Rian Thai 7: 1–18.

2013. “The Constant Uncertainty.”
In Constant Uncertainty. Bangkok: 338 OIDA Gallery, 2013: 3. (Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, 338 OIDA Gallery, Bangkok.)

Translations:

2018. “Epicurean Episode in the Tamnan Phra That Doi Khao Khwai Kaew.”
In Works in Honor of Kannikar Elbow, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. [Thai to English] https://seasia.wisc.edu/anthony-lovenheim-irwin/

2015. “Painting Emptiness [วาดความว่าง].”
By Somluk Pantiboon, in Emptiness and Wisdom. Chiang Rai: ArtBridge Chiang Rai. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at ArtBridge, Chiang Rai. [Thai to English].

Book Reviews:

2017. Thawan Duchanee: Modern Buddhist Artist.
By Russell Marcus, Journal of Asian Studies 76 (1): 261–262.

2014. Buddhist Storytelling in Thailand and Laos: The Vessantara Scroll at the Asian Civilisations Museum.
By Leedom Lefferts, Sandra Cate, and Wajuppa Tossa, Journal of Asian Studies 73 (4): 1160–1162.

Digital Humanities:

2018. (Editor) “Works in Honor of Kannikar Elbow [อนุสรณ์งานแปลแด่อาจารย์ที่รัก].”
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://seasia.wisc.edu/kannikar-elbow-memorial/

2016. “In Conversation with Nidhi Eoseewong’s ‘Islamophobia in the Upper North.’” Prachatai English, March 9. http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/5920

2009 “Images of Angkor Wat,” in Southeast Asian Images & Text (SEAiT) University of Wisconsin- Madison http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/SEAiT/AngkorWat

Lectures and Conferences

Invited Talks:

2021. “Magical Swords from Northern Thailand.”
Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, July 1.

2021. “Everybody Gets a Sword! The Production and Proliferation of Buddhist Ritual Weaponry in Northern Thailand.”
Southeast Asia Program Gatty Lecture Series, Cornell University, Ithaca, April 1.

2019. “Crafting Theravada Buddhism: Touch and Material in the Lives of Thai Buddhists.”
Center for Southeast Asian Studies Lecture Series, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, November 15.

2017. “The Shan and Not-So-Shan Rebellion in Chiang Rai: Buddhism, Borders, and Beheadings in the Early Twentieth Century.”
Informal Northern Thai Group, Chiang Mai, August 8.

2016. “Surrounding the Sacred: Rebuilding the Buddhist Landscape in Chiang Rai, Thailand.”
The Center for Southeast Asian Studies Friday Forum, UW- Madison, April 15.

2015. “Buddhism on Display: Implications of the Inaugural Exhibition at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center.”
Department of Fine Art, Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou, China, June 26.

2015. “Partners in Power and Perfection: Khruba, Construction, and Khu Barami in Chiang Rai, Thailand.”
Charismatic Monks of Lanna Buddhism, Center for Ethnic Studies and Development, Chiang Mai University, January 28.

2015. “Building Statues of the Builders: Field Notes on the Construction of the Images of Khruba Kham La and Khruba Intha at Wat Phra That Jawn Sak.”
สื่อ ศิลปะ และศิลปิน ขนชายแดน ศาสนาและอาณาบริเวณชายแดนศึกษา [Media, Art, and Artists: Border Peoples, Religions and Borderlands Studies]. Chiang Mai University, January 14.

2014. “What’s The Deal With The White Temple? [วัดร่องขุ่นคืออะไรวะ].”
International Studies Program, Chiang Mai University, June 13.

2014. “Sīmā: Monastic Space Throughout Theravada History.”
Informal Northern Thai Group, Chiang Mai, May 13.

Conferences:

2021. “Mapping Chiang Rai, Thailand: Creating a Digital ‘Deep Map’ of Buddhist Spatial Change and Significance from 1844 to the Present.”
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, (virtual).

2019. “Miraculous Making and Miraculous Healing: The Image of Jīvaka Komārabhacca in Modern Thailand.”
For the panel “Open Up and Say ‘Ah’: East and Southeast Asian Buddhist Medicinal Paradigms vis-à-vis Scientific Epistemologies.” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Diego, California, November 23–26.
[Panel organizer]

2019. “Four Ears, Five Eyes, One City: The Life of a Borderland Jataka in Chiang Rai, Thailand.”
Association for Asian Studies in Asia Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, July 1–4.

2019. “Changing the Buddha’s Face: Covering Over Regional Difference Through the Ascent of ‘Lanna’ Buddhist Art.”
For the sponsored panel on “Aesthetic Regimes of Thailand.” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, March 21–24.
[Panel organizer]

2018. “Buddhist Rebellions and Beheadings in Colonial Borderlands: Chiang Rai, Thailand During the Shan Rebellions.”
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Washington DC, March 22–25.

2018. “Shifting Sīmā Spaces at Wat Rachathiwat and the Coming of Modernity.”
Emerging Themes in Theravada Studies, Washington DC, March 22.

2017. “Reassembling the Stupa: Temple Renovation and Religious Networks in Chiang Rai, Thailand.”
13th International Conference on Thai Studies, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 15–18.

2017. “A Khruba in Intermittent Service to the Siamese: Khruba Pok and the Taming of Chiang Rai.”
13th International Conference on Thai Studies, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 15–18.

2017. “Reassembling the Stupa: Temple Renovation and Religious Networks in Chiang Rai, Thailand.”
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada, March 16–19.

2016. “The Swords and the Stones: Mass Production and Mass Access to Power in Contemporary Northern Thai Sīmā Space Consecration Ceremonies.”
For the panel “Beyond Commodification: Mass-Produced Religious Objects and Deep Authority in South and Southeast Asia.” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington, March 31–April 3.
[Panel organizer]

2014. “Is There a Buddhist Avant-Garde? Religious Themes in the Work of Contemporary Northern Thai Artists.”
12th International Conference on Thai Studies, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, April 22–24.

2012. “(Re)Constructing the Modern at Wat Raachaathiwaat: Analysis of the Early Twentieth-Century Renovations to a Siamese Royal Temple."
For the panel on “Constructing Modern Spaces: Personhood and Nation in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Khmer and Thai Visual Culture.” Cambodian Studies Conference, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, September 13–16.
[Panel organizer with Luke Schmidt]
Also presented at the Conference on Thai Studies. Madison, Wisconsin, October 7–8, 2011.

2010. “Modern Mechanics, Early-Modern Meanings: The Early-Modern Concerns of the Thammayut Reformation.”
Central States Anthropological Society, Madison, Wisconsin, April 7–10.

Panel Discussant:

2021. “Politics and Gender of Religion: Entangled Text and Image.”
Southeast Asia Program Student Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, March 19–21.

2017. “The Making of Lanna History.”
13th International Conference on Thai Studies, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 15-18.

2015. “The Meaning of Khruba”, and “Khruba: Disciples, Followers, Lineage, and Networks.”
Khruba In Lanna Buddhism: Belief, Practice, and the Importance of Ethnicity Workshop, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, March 24.

2013. “Functions and Concepts of Art on a Global Stage.”
Trans-Asia Graduate Student Conference, UW-Madison, April 6-7.

Invited Workshops and Symposia:

2019. Religion at Work: Gods, Goddesses, and Occult Powers in the Lives and Livelihoods of India’s Artisans, Technicians, and Manufacturers.
Madison Wisconsin, October 12.

2018. Theravada Civilizations Project Workshop, Madison.
Wisconsin, September 21-23.

2016. Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Buddhist Studies Symposium.
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, September 7-9.

2016. Theravada Civilizations Project Dissertation Workshop.
Seattle, Washington, March 30.

Teaching

Siena College

2022. “Experiences of the Sacred.”
Department of Religious Studies

2022. “Buddhist Traditions: Seeing with the Triple Gem”
Department of Religious Studies

2021. “Experiences of the Sacred.”
Department of Religious Studies

2021. “Religion and Moral Decision.”
Department of Religious Studies

2017. “Shaping of the Contemporary World.”
Department of History

2016. “Shaping of the Contemporary World.”
Department of History

Cornell University

2020. “Building Religion: How Crafting, Construction, and Design Forge Religious Worlds”
Society For the Humanities.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

2019. “The Power of Place in Southeast Asia: Religion, Politics, and Geography.”
Center for Southeast Asian Studies

2019. “Introduction to Southeast Asian Studies.”
Center for Southeast Asian Studies

University of Wisconsin-Madison

2018. “Introduction to Buddhism.”
Department of History (Teaching Assistant)

2017. “Culture, Health, and Development in Northern Thailand.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison study abroad program at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2016. “Culture, Health, and Development in Northern Thailand.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison study abroad program at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2013. “Introduction to Buddhism.”
Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia (Teaching Assistant)

2009. “Socio-Economic Transformation and Problems of Ethnic Minorities in Northern Thailand.”
Department of History (Reader)

Intramural Training Fellowships & Awards, UW-Madison:

2018 Vilas Conference Presentation Funds

2018 Asian Languages and Cultures Conference Travel Funds

2016 Center Fellowship Center for Southeast Asian Studies

2015 Mellon-Wisconsin Summer Fellowship

2014 Vilas Conference Presentation Funds

2012 Research Assistant, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

2012 International Field Research Award, Division of International Studies

2011–12 Chancellors Fellowship, Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia

2010–11 FLAS Fellowship, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

2010 Travel and Living Stipend, Advanced Study of Thai Program

2009–10 FLAS Fellowship, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

2009 Summer FLAS Fellowship, Southeast Asian Summer Institute

Languages

Thai:
Advanced speaking, reading, listening, and translation.

Kham Muang (Northern Thai):
Advanced listening, speaking, beginner reading.

Pali:
Intermediate reading and translation skills.

Sanskrit:
Basic training in Sanskrit reading and grammar.

TESOL certification, School for International Training, Rennert Bilingual, New York, NY. 2006

Professional Affiliations

American Academy of Religion

Association for Asian Studies

Theravada Civilizations Project

Southeast Asia Research Group

Academic Service & Administrative Work

2021–Present. Chair. Thailand Laos, Cambodia Studies Association
Southeast Asia Council Affiliate of the Association of Asian Studies.

2019–21. Executive Committee Member, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Studies Association
Southeast Asia Council Affiliate of the Association of Asian Studies.

2018. Workshop leader (with Anne Hansen).
K-12 Educators’ workshop on Mindfulness and Socially Engaged Religion in Southeast Asia
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, UW-Madison.

2018. Head organizer and discussant.
My Buddha is Punk film Screening with comments from May Sabai Phyu. Southeast Asia Research Group, UW- Madison, April 14.

2017, 2016. Study Abroad Co-coordinator.
University of Wisconsin-Madison summer study abroad program at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2010–12. Coordinator.
Southeast Asia Research Group (SEARG), UW-Madison Graduate Student Group

2009. Project Assistant.
Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, UW-Madison.

Other Relevant Work & Curatorial Experience

2018–19. Substitute Teacher.
Chatham Central School District, Chatham, New York.

2015. On-site Thai-to-English interpreter.
Social Impact Assessment for the SOLD Project, human trafficking prevention NGO, January 14-24.

2015. Thai-English Translator
“2014 Narrative Project Report.” Association for Akha Education and Culture in Thailand (AFECT), Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2015. Curator (with Amelia Toelke).
“นึกถึงภาพ :: Thinking of Pictures.” Dual art show featuring the work of Kemika Kemnumm and Poypoy Potjawan Panjinda. April 10-May 10. Northai Gallery, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2015. Curator (with Amelia Toelke).
“ชีวิต ๑ ชีวิต :: Life 1 Life.” Group art show featuring the work of Sriwan Janehuttakarnkit, Songdet Thipthong, Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, Phookpan Chairat, Thunpisit Saenchun, Thanonsak Pakwan, Orapin Suebtim, Athu Ajaw, Busui Ajaw, and Yai Siam. February 20-March 27. Northai Gallery, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2006–07. Lead Teacher.
Special Needs program / Physical Education / Lower Elementary, Piti Suksa Montessori School, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

2005-06. Instructional Associate.
Special Education Inclusion Program, Keene Middle School, Keene, New Hampshire.

2001–03. Paraprofessional.
Special Needs Program, Rochester Children’s Nursery, Rochester, New York.