On Friday, September 23, 2022, the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg, and the De La Salle University, Manila, organized International Arts Talk XVII. The presentations covered topics in the field of Environmental History: Teak trading and farming. Our invited speaker from the University of Johannesburg, Gregory Barton, discussed the history of teak wood industry in Thailand, while Arleigh Dela Cruz from De La Salle University, Manila, presented the development of agriculture in the Philippines.  

Barton’s presentation, The Rise and Fall of Informal Empire in Thailand:  An Environmental Story, “traces the rise and fall of Britain’s informal empire over the teak trade in Thailand.  The British launched the global conservation movement in British India in the 1850s and used the Indian model of forestry management to effectively gain ascendancy over the teak industry in Siam, dating from the second half of the nineteenth century.”   

Moving down south towards the Philippines, in Philippine Agriculture through the Lens of Dean Worcester: An Analysis of Early American Views and Policies on Philippine Tropical Agriculture, 1901-1914, Dela Cruz analyzes “the views and perspectives of Dean Worcester and the early American colonial administration regarding the nature of Philippine tropical agriculture. He also discusses “the reasons why the agricultural modernization efforts of the United States in the Philippines failed during the early part of American rule in the Philippines”. 

Moderated by our Head of the Department of History, Wasana Wongsurawat, International Arts Talk XVII provided not only information on development of teak wood trading and farming, and in-depth knowledge in the field of history, but it was also entertaining with historical facts and findings. 

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