Research

Since 2011, the Thai Studies section of the Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia has engaged in Thai-related research within various collaborative research groups.

Of particular importance are the research projects on manuscript studies and epigraphy concerning Thailand, Laos, and neighbouring Tai regions, established under the Collaborative Research Center 950 "Manuscript Cultures in Asia, Africa, and Europe" (2011–2019) and the Excellence Cluster "Understanding Written Artifacts" (since 2019).

Additionally, Thai Studies has been involved in the competence network "Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia" and two European-Southeast Asian research networks on modern Southeast Asia, namely "Integration in Southeast Asia: Trajectories of Inclusion, Dynamics of Exclusion" (SEATIDE) and "Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia" (CRISEA).

Ongoing projects

• "Royal Scribes and Written Artefacts: Writing Culture of the Thai Royal Court through the Archives of Royal Scribes" (2023-2025)

  as part of the Cluster of Excellence "Understanding Written Artefacts", UHH.

  Principal Investigator and Researcher: Dr. Peera Panarut

• "The function and spatial distribution of inscribed objects in Luang Prabang" (2023–2025)

  as part of the Cluster of Excellence "Understanding Written Artefacts", UHH.

  Principal Investigator and Researcher: Dr. Silpsupa Jaengsawang

Projects completed

• "Embassies, ritual and cross-cultural encounters between Europe and Southeast Asia (1500-1800)" (2021-2024)

  Principal Investigator: PD Dr. Sven Trakulhun

  Supported by the DFG, this project examines diplomatic contacts between Europe and Southeast Asia from the late sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The project aims at describing the complex diplomatic interactions between Europe and Southeast Asia in a period of intensified interactions and seeks to capture some of their essential characteristics.

• "Anisong (Ānisaṃsa) Manuscripts from Luang Prabang (Laos) in a Comparative Perspective: Transformation in the Age of Printing" (2020–2024)

  supported by the DFG and associated with the Centre for the Studies of Manuskript Cultures, UHH.

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky
  Researcher: Dr. Silpsupa Jaengsawang

• "Traditional Knowledge in Cultural and Material Transformation: Inscriptions of Wat Phu Monastery (1831–1832) and Thai Manuscript Culture" (2019– 2022)

  as Project RFB3 in the Cluster of Excellence "Understanding Written Artefacts".

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky
  Researcher: Dr. Peera Panarut

• Various research projects in the framework of the EU supported research consortium "Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia" (CRISEA, 2017–2021)

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky

• "Anisong (Ānisaṃsa) Manuscripts from Luang Prabang (Laos) in comparative perspective" (2015–2019)

  as part of the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 950.

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky
  Researcher: Silpsupa Jaengsawang (PhD candidate)

• Various research projects in the framework of the EU supported research consortium "Integration in Southeast Asia: Trajectories of Inclusion, Dynamics of Exclusion" (SEATIDE, 2012–2016)

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky

• "Organisation of historical knowledge in Tai Lü Manuscripts: the paratextual context of a recently revived manuscript culture" (2011–2015)

  as part of the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 950.

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky
  Researcher: Apiradee Techasiriwan (PhD candidate)

• "The Lao Sangha and Modernity: a Buddhist Archive from Luang Prabang" (2010–2015)

  as part of the competence network "Dynamics of Religion in Southeast Asia" (DORISEA).

  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky
  Researchers: Khamvone Boulyaphonh and Bounleuth Sengsoulin (PhD candidates)