Description
The aim of this presentation is to contribute to a rethinking of the relationship between Siam and Scandinavia at the turn of the twentieth century. At this time, this relationship was manifested by the presence of a large group of successful Scandinavian entrepreneurs and professionals in Siam, repeated visits between the royal houses in Siam and the Scandinavian countries, and the education of several Siamese princes in Scandinavia. The representation of this relationship isdominated by the trope of friendship. As small-scale agents in a world dominated by the major European empires, the trope of friendship represents the Scandinavians not as a threat to the Siamese rulers but as co-producers of a modern and independent Siam. In this presentation we challenge this representation of the relationship between Siam and Scandinavia and show how
this representation flattens history producing a history which excludes an analysis and understanding of the configurations of power, practices, alliances, conflicts, and representations involved in the entangled histories of the cultural encounter. We will be arguing for this with reference to the analysis of two cases. One is set in Scandinavia and deals with King Chulalongkorn’s visit to Sweden and Denmark in 1897. The other is set in Siam and deals with Erik Seidenfaden’s production of knowledge on Siam and things Siamese.
| Period | 2022 Dec 6 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Linnaeus University, Sweden |