000			01832nam a22002057a 4500
003			PMNP
005			20250609112020.0
008			250609b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9789971694296
040			_aPMNP _beng _cKutubkhanah Diraja
082			_a959.3035092
100			_93524 _aStengs, Irene
245			_aWorshipping the Great Moderniser: _bKing Chulalongkorn, Patron Saint of the Thai Middle Class / _cIrene Stengs
260			_aSingapore _bNUS Press Publication _c2009
300			_a316 _b229mm x 153mm
520			_aIn Thailand the globalizing urban culture associated with the economic boom of the 1980s and 1990s gave rise to an alienating anomie. In the slipstream of this boom, an immense cult took shape around King Chulalongkorn the Great (r.1868-1910) that reworked the idea of Buddhist kingship, making it the pivot of the modern Thai social cosmos and creating a new foundation for Thai identity. Worshipping the Great Moderniser explores the contemporary appeal of King Chulalongkorn and considers what this ruler's unprecendented popularity says about present-day Thai society. Arguing that the exalted expectations of modern Buddhist kingship are a product of the ambitions and anxieties of Thailand's expanding middle class, Irene Stengs compares the popular image of King Chulalongkorn with that of the present king, the highly venerated King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to show that while modern Buddhist kingship and current ideas of Thainess draw on traditional idioms, they are highly modern. This examination of the social imaginary surrounding Thai kingship and Thainess during the past century and a half yields an intriguing amalgam of ideas concerning popular religion, Buddhist kingship, nationalism, and material culture.
650		0	_92762 _aMonarchy
942			_2ddc _cBK _n0
999			_c3335 _d3335