During June 16-17, 2016, the Center for Thai Studies, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, organized its First International Graduate Symposium on Thai Studies, aiming to showcase the distinctive works by graduate students in the center as well as to provide a platform on which cutting-edge knowledge of Thai studies in the wake of intense globalization and forces of modernity has been produced. Aptly titled ‘The Globalized Face of Thai Studies’, the conference kicked off with the keynote speech entitled ‘In the Mood for Colonial Modernity: Bangkok and the
Invocation of Transnational Chineseness’ by Assistant Professor Arnika Fuhrmann, Ph.D., from Cornell University, to be followed by a number of presentations by international graduates both from the Thai Studies Center and elsewhere. Led by Assistant Professor Wasana Wongsurawat, Ph.D., the Director of the Center, the last session was a round-table discussion on ‘The Future of Thai Studies’ by the keynote speaker and other luminaries in the field and outside, such as Enze Han, Pablo Ramirez, and John Winyu.