Dr.Lowell Skar

NAME: Lowell Skar

OFFICE: 712 Boromrajakumari Building

PHONE: 086-976 2307

EMAIL ADDRESS: Lowell.S@chula.ac.th

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D., Department of Asian and Middle Eastern
    University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • B.A. (with distinction) Asian Studies Department
    St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Transnational Asian Modernities
  • Asian societies and cultures (Southeast Asia, China, Japan)
  • Comparative Cultural Theory
  • Science, Technology & Medicine Studies
  • International Relations
  • History & Memory

COURSES TAUGHT

  • Asia and the Making of the Modern World
  • Global Asia
  • Cultures and Countercultures from 1945
  • Transnational Mobilities
  • Modern Frontiers
  • Science and Culture
  • Technology and Culture
  • Food and Culture

AWARDS, GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

  • Chulalongkorn University, Institute of Asian Studies Research Project
    Funding from Thai Research Fund and other Sources. Research Project on “Myanmar’s Buddhist Sangha: Responses to Sociopolitical Change since 2010” (2015-2017)
  • KataKatha: Southeast Asian Conversations on Culture and the Arts (2015)
    Funding from Maybank Kim Eng, supported by Maybank Foundation, conceptualised and curated in collaboration with PUSAKA
  • Various research & travel grants, University of Colorado, U. of Michigan (2003-2011)
  • Needham Research Institute (NRI), Cambridge, England (1993-1995)
    National Science Foundation Fellowship for Chinese Science. Examined how Chinese science and medicine was part of China and Japan.
  • Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyôto University, Kyôto, Japan (1991-1993)  
    Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbushô) Fellowship. Studied East Asian science, technology, medicine and medicine; global cultural interactions and exchanges in the modern world.
  • École Pratique des Hautes Études, Section IV, Paris, France (1990-1991)
    American Council of Learned Societies Predoctoral Grant. Courses & seminars on East Asian Cultures with K.M. Schipper, L. Vandermeersch
  • University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Department of Education, Foreign Language and Area Studies Grant Recipient

KEY PUBLICATIONS

  • 2024. “Chinese Opera in Thailand: A Brief History and Glimpse of the Current Situation of Teochew Troupes (Chaoju 潮劇) in Bangkok” Chinese Performing Arts 8.

  • 2024. “Songkran in Thailand, a Traditional Thai New Year Festival.” The UNESCO Courier (March-June issue).
  • 2024. Lives in Motion:  Celebrating Dance in Thailand. ed. with P. Damrhung. London: Routledge.

  • 2024. “Introduction.” In Lives in Motion:  Celebrating Dance in Thailand. ed. with P. Damrhung. London: Routledge.

  • 2024. “Reimagining Classical Thai Dance for the 21st Century: The Evolution of Pichet Klunchun’s ‘No. 60.’” In Lives in Motion:  Celebrating Dance in Thailand. ed. with P. Damrhung. London: Routledge.

  • 2024. “Artists Interviews.” In Lives in Motion:  Celebrating Dance in Thailand. ed. with P. Damrhung. London: Routledge.

  • 2024. “Glossary of Terms Relevant to Dance in Thailand.” In Lives in Motion:  Celebrating Dance in Thailand. ed. with P. Damrhung. London: Routledge.

  • 2021. Nora. A Living Dance Tradition of Southern Thailand, with P. Damrhung. Bangkok. Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture. 

  • 2021. “Reinventing How We Move: The Pichet Klunchun Dance Company in the Context of Contemporary Thai Dance,” Reader on Dance in Asia and the Pacific, Stephanie Burridge, ed. London: Routledge.

  • 2020. “Reinventing How We Move: The Pichet Klunchun Dance Company in the Context of Contemporary Thai Dance,” Reader on Dance in Asia and the Pacific, Stephanie Burridge, ed. London: Routledge.

  • 2020. “Playing with Practice Theory: Preliminary Remarks on the Work of Performance Ecologies in Bangkok,” Manusya: Journal of Humanities, special issue “Exploring Thai Performance Ecologies.”

  • 2020. “Situating Performance Ecologies in a Regional Context: A Roundtable Discussion,” in Manusya: Journal of Humanities, special issue “Exploring Thai Performance Ecologies.”

  • 2020. “From Performance Research to Performance Ecologies in Contemporary Thailand,” Manusya: Journal of Humanities, special issue, “Exploring Thai Performance Ecologies.”

  • 2020. Editor. Manusya: Journal of Humanities, special issue “Exploring Thai Performance Ecologies.”

  • 2018. “Negotiating Dhamma amid Uncertain Democratization: A Perspective on Myanmar’s Buddhist Responses to Sociopolitical Change.” Chulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies 12: 62-144.

  • 2016. The Folk Performing Arts in ASEAN. Editor, SAC Publication No. 111. Bangkok: Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre.

  • 2016. “Introduction,” The Folk Performing Arts in ASEAN. SAC Publication No. 111. Bangkok: Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre.

  • 2016. Philosophies in Dialogue: Bridging the Great Philosophical Divides. Proceedings of the International Symposium in Bangkok. Editor. Department of Philosophy. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University.

  • 2016. “Introduction,” Philosophies in Dialogue: Bridging the Great Philosophical Divides. Proceedings of the International Symposium in Bangkok. Department of Philosophy. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University.

  • 2012. Editorial Coordinator for two special issues from TU First Int’l Conference on Int’l Relations (2011-12), published by the Thammasat Review (2012).

  • 2009. 清微仙譜。 雷法。神靈そして道原 (The Qingwei Xianpu, Thunder Ritual, Divine Powers, and the Origins of the Dao), in 道教と共生思想 (Daoism and Symbiotic Thought), Tanaka Fumio 田中文雄 and Terry Kleeman, eds. Tokyo: Taiga Shobō 大河書房.

  • 2009. “Acupuncture,” in Encyclopedia of Modern China, vol. 1, David Pong, ed. Cengage Gale.

  • 2008. Thirty-five articles [16,150 words] for The Encyclopedia of Taoism, 2 volumes. Fabrizio Pregadio, ed. London: Routledge.

  • 2005. Article on Chinese Alchemy, in the Hawaii Reader of Traditional Chinese Literature, Victor H. Mair, et al., eds. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.

  • 2000. “Ritual Movements, Deity Cults, and the Transformation of Daoism in Song and Yuan Times”, and (with F. Pregadio) “Inner Alchemy” in Handbook of Daoism, Livia Kohn, ed. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

  • 1997. “Administering Thunder: A Thirteenth-Century Memorial Deliberating the Thunder Rites”, Cahiers d’Extrême-asie 9.

  • 1994. Chinese Science: Tradition and Beyond. (ed.). Osaka: Kansai University Press.
    Articles: Book Introduction, “Introduction: Aspects of Ethics in Chinese Medicine,” “Ethical Aspects of Daoist Healing: The Case of the Thunder Rites.”