Description

This 4 week seminar is designed to engage newcomers to Thailand, as well as seasoned expats through presentations, Q&A, and discussions.  Improving on last year’s highly acclaimed series, this year’s content will be more focused on actual everyday situations that expatriates may experience. It will help expatriates to better understand and thus more easily interact with Thai people in their daily life.

Most important, in addition to our two expatriate presenters who have lived in Thailand for a long while, the sessions this year will include two Thai professors and a Thai lawyer and translator.

#1 October 30: Overview of Thai Cultural Values

#2 November 6: Kreng Jai and Hierarchy

#3 November 13: “Comportment”: How to conduct oneself in Thai Society

#4 November 20: Changing Thai Values in a Changing World

Presenters:

Dr. Pusadee Tamthai is a former director of the NGO  “Women in Politics”; former Member of Parliament; former Deputy Governor of Bangkok (in charge of education, health, social services);and Acting Director Wattana Wittiyalai Academy (in Bangkok). Currently she is a  Board Member of Thailand World Vision and  Director of The Tamthai Foundation.  

Dr Kanokwan Tharawan, assistant professor at the institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, is a cultural/medical anthropologist. As an advocate for women’s health and gender rights, she has worked among vulnerable communities in Thailand for three decades. She is also a consultant for the Women’s Health Advocacy Foundation, a Thailand-based women’s NGO which advocates for policy change to improve health coverage among vulnerable populations.  

Ajarn Jaem Prueanget is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and has a Master of Laws degree from University College in London.  He is also a professional translator who has worked with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Board, as well as translating a number of books from Thai to English. Perhaps most relevant to this workshop is his article “What Does It Mean to be Thai” for Chiang Mai City Life Magazine.    

Steve Epstein has taught English in Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Nepal.  He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and a  Peace Corps training coordinator in Thailand. He has taught Intercultural Communication at Alliant University in San Diego and is currently a senior advisor at Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya Buddhist University at Wat Suan Dok.  

Guy Scandlen is a retired UNICEF Programme office and administrator who originally came to Thailand as a Grinnell Travel-Service Fellow in 1961.  He has lived and worked in Thailand off and on since 1971.  He has worked at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), Mahidol University, and Chiang Mai University.

COST: 350 THB (1200 THB for all four sessions)