In Buddha's Company : Thai Soldiers in the Vietnam War / Richard A. Ruth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruth, Richard A., author.

Series:

Southeast Asia--politics, meaning, memory.

Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory ; 57

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Participation, Thai.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Thailand--Politics and government--1945-1988.

Thailand.

Thailand. Kō̜ngthap Bok--Military life.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 p.)

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2010]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Buddha's Company explores a previously neglected aspect of the Vietnam War: the experiences of the Thai troops who served there and the attitudes and beliefs that motivated them to volunteer. Thailand sent nearly 40,000 volunteer soldiers to South Vietnam to serve alongside the Free World Forces in the conflict, but unlike the other foreign participants, the Thais came armed with historical and cultural knowledge of the region. Blending the methodologies of cultural and military history, Richard Ruth examines the individual experiences of Thai volunteers in their wartime encounters with American allies, South Vietnamese civilians, and Viet Cong enemies. Ruth shows how the Thais were transformed by living amongst the modern goods and war machinery of the Americans and by traversing the jungles and plantations haunted by indigenous spirits. At the same time, Ruth argues, Thailand's ruling institutions used the image of volunteers to advance their respective agendas, especially those related to anticommunist authoritarianism.Drawing on numerous interviews with Thai veterans and archival material from Thailand and the United States, Ruth focuses on the cultural exchanges that occurred between Thai troops and their allies and enemies, presenting a Southeast Asian view of a conflict that has traditionally been studied as a Cold War event dominated by an American political agenda. The resulting study considers such diverse topics as comparative Buddhisms, alternative modernities, consumerism, celebrity, official memories vs. personal recollections, and the value of local knowledge in foreign wars. The war's effects within Thailand itself are closely considered, demonstrating that the war against communism in Vietnam, as articulated by Thai leaders, was a popular cause among nearly all segments of the population. Furthermore, Ruth challenges previous assertions that Thailand's forces were merely "America's mercenaries" by presenting the multiple, overlapping motivations for volunteering offered by the soldiers themselves.In Buddha's Company makes clear that many Thais sought direct involvement in the Vietnam War and that their participation had profound and lasting effects on the country's political and military institutions, royal affairs, popular culture, and international relations. As one of only a handful of academic histories of Thailand in the 1960s, it provides a crucial link between the keystone studies of the Phibun-Sarit years (1946-1963) and those examining the turbulent 1970s.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction. Thailand and the Vietnam War

Chapter 1. Sawadi, Vietnam: Making the Queen's Cobras

Chapter 2. Firing Up the Thai Public Sphere: Funerals, Cremations, and Other Celebrations

Chapter 3. Muang PX: Encounters with Consumerism, Americanism, and the Early Arrival of Modernity in South Vietnam

Chapter 4. Trading Magic for Modernity: Thai Contributions to the American Search for Invulnerability and Escape

Chapter 5. Thai People Have No Enemies: Remembering Thai-Vietnamese Relationships in the War Zone

Chapter 6. Fighting on the Metaphysical Landscapes of South Vietnam

Conclusion. An Intimate Monument Hidden from the World's View

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Other Volumes in The Series

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-268) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

ISBN:

9780824870409

0824870409

9780824860851

0824860853

OCLC:

878149671