Council on Thai Studies Coming Virtually to 91探花
The annual Council on Thai Studies (COTS) conference will be hosted virtually by 91探花 on Nov. 12 and 13 with support from the Center for International Studies, the Contemporary History Institute and 91探花 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淭his year is going to be very different from normal because it鈥檚 going to be done remotely,鈥 Shane said. 鈥淚t 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.鈥
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.
鈥淔or 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,鈥 he said.
鈥淭he Curse of the Order鈥 is a black and white film that was completed in 1954, and Shane said it鈥檚 exciting because many Thai people have never even seen the film before.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a lot of fun to show this for the first time,鈥 he said.
The COTS conference is open to the public. Anyone can attend the presentations and seminars, even if they don鈥檛 specialize in Thai studies or just want to learn more about Thailand.
鈥淭he access to the actual conference is completely free. We鈥檙e making it widely available. People just have to go in and register and they鈥檒l be able to access all of the different webinars and sessions,鈥 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 鈥渧ery collegial environment.鈥
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.