Events

Jointly organized by Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, and Yale-NUS College, Singapore.

CHAIRPERSON

Prof Naoko Shimazu, Yale-NUS College, Singapore

ABSTRACT

Throughout the 1950s, the United States exploited Bangkok’s urban consumer culture to promote the benefits of Free World membership. In particular, regular trade shows in the Thai capital were adopted by US officials as adversarial spaces from which the Cold War could be won, both by promoting American modernity and convincing Thais of the benevolent nature of US interest in the region. From 1958, following a revolution that committed Thailand to an alliance with the US, the Thai state itself mobilised cultural resources to present the Thai-US relationship as one that benefitted Thailand’s urban class. One part of this campaign was the assertion that it was in the interest of Bangkok’s consumers to defend the country against communism. Spaces were created that identified the promotion of Thai culture with ‘Free World’ membership. The proliferation of art galleries, tourist spectacles, handicraft showrooms, hotels and shopping centres all provided new spaces from which to understand the Cold War. This paper will explore these spaces as important sites of an emerging ‘Free World’ culture globally. It will consider how these spaces provided pathways through the city; upon which various forms of diplomatic engagement associated with Free World membership might occur.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Matthew Phillips is a lecturer in Modern Asian History at Aberystwyth University, and is specifically interested in the cultural Cold War in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Recent publications have focused on how traditional forms of ritual and ceremony were exploited by Thai leaders during the period to secure a Thai position within the Thai-US relationship. His book, “Thailand in the Cold War”, looked at the role that Thai and American consumers played in securing the alliance. Matthew received his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2013, and previously worked at the BBC World Service in both London and Bangkok. His publications include “Ancient Ceremony, Modern Spectacle: Thailand’s Royal Barge Procession in Historical Context” in How the Past was Used: Proceedings of the British Academy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017 (forthcoming), “Crafting Nationalist Consumption Public Relations and the Thai Textile Movement under the People’s Party, 1932-1945” in South East Asia Research, Vol. 21, No. 4, 2013, and “US Popular Representations of Thailand and the Construction of Cultural Uniqueness during the Cold War” in Rian Thai, Vol 5, 2012.

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