Applied Sciences for Hedging Risk and Anticipating Outcomes in Police Work
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This brief historical study of Thai mentalités and society draws on perspectives from anthropology and religious studies. Astrology, numerology, and other applied sciences of prognostication and protection shape everyday decision-making in Thailand for soldiers, police, criminals, business people and politicians. The applied sciences offer guidance on timing and how to proceed. Details from the life of Police Major General Khun Phantharakratchadet (1898-2006) will illustrate the main points.
Article Details
Copyright of any paper published in this journal belongs to the Author and All rights reserved.
The opinions expressed in the journal are those of the authors. Department of History, Philosophy and English Literature’s Journal Committee, Editorial Board and Peer Reviewer do not have to agree with those comments.
References
Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit. “Protection and Power in Siam: From Khun Chang Khun Phaen to the Buddha Amulet.” Southeast Asian Studies 2, no.2 (Aug. 2013), 215-242.
Candiere, Aurore. “Conjuncture and Reform in the Late Konbaung Period: How Prophecies, Omens and Rumors Motivated Political Action from 1866 to 1869.” Journal of Burma Studies 15, no.2 (Dec. 2011), 231-262.
Chali Sinlaparatsami. “Ruang khao or: mahawitthayalai phram haeng suwannaphum [On Khao Or: The Golden Peninsula’s Brahmanic University].” Academic Paper, number 446, 2007. Privately published.
Chalong Soontravanich. “The Regionalization of Local Buddhist Saints: Amulets, Crime and Violence in Post-World War II Thai Society.” Sojourn 28, no.2 (July 2013), 179-215.
Clark, Colin W. “Uncertainty in Economics.” in Elizabeth Cashdan (ed.), Risk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Economies, 47-63. Boulder: Westview Press, 1990.
Cohen, Erik. “Contesting Discourses of Blood in the ‘Red Shirt’ Protests in Bangkok.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 43. no.2 (June 2012), 216-233.
Crosby, Kate. “Tantric Theravada: A Bibliographic Essay on the Writings of Francois Bizot and Others on the Yogavacara Tradition.” Contemporary Buddhism 1, no.2 (2000), 141-198.
Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Farrelly, Nicholas, Andrew Walker, Craig J. Reynolds. “Practical and Auspicious: Thai Handbook Knowledge for Agriculture and the Environment.” Asian Studies Review 35, no.2 (June 2011): 235-251.
Hallisey, Charles. Charles Hallisey, “Auspicious Things.” in Donald S. Lopez (ed.), Buddhism in Practice, 412-426. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Princeton Readings in Religions.
Hayashi Yukio. Practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao: Religion in the Making of a Region. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2003. Chapter 5, “The Buddhism of Power and Mo Tham in Northeast Thailand.”
Hayashi Yukio, “Spells and Boundaries in Regional Context: Wisa and Thamma among the Thai-Lao in Northeast Thailand.” in Hayashi Yukio and Yang Guangyuan (eds.), Dynamics of Ethnic Cultures across National Boundaries in Southwestern China and Mainland Southeast Asia: Relations, Societies and Languages, 169-188. Chiang Mai: Lanna Cultural Center, Rajabhat Institute, 2000.
Ileto, Reynaldo C. “Religion and Anticolonial Movements.” in Nicholas Tarling (ed.), The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Volume 2, part 1, 193-244.
Luhmann. Risk: A Sociological Theory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1993.
Malaby, Thomas M. “Fateful Misconceptions: Rethinking Paradigms of Chance among Gamblers in Crete.” Social Analysis 43, no.1 (Mar. 1999), 141-65.
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays. Boston: Beacon Press; Glencoe, Illinois, The Free Press, 1948. Selected, and with an introduction by Robert Redfield.
McDaniel, Justin. The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magic Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
McDaniel, Justin. “This Hindu Holy Man is a Thai Buddhist.” South East Asia Research 21, no.2 (June 2013), 191-209.
Okha Buri. Thot rahatlap khun phantharakratchadet mueprap khamangwet [Decoding Secrets of Khun Phantharakratchadet, the Lawman with the Vedic Powers]. Nonburi: Uthayan Khwamru, 2007.
Ortiz, Sutti. “Forecasts, Decisions, and the Farmer’s Response to Uncertain Environments.” in Peggy F. Barlett (ed.), Agricultural Decision Making: Anthropological Contributions to Rural Development. London: Academic Press, 1980. 177-202.
Pattamakorn Bunlasathaphon. “Khwam ru nai tamra phrommachat.” [Knowledge in Brahmanical Manuals]. Chiang Mai, MA thesis, Department of History, Chiang Mai University, 1996.
Peerasak Chaidaisuk, Chat sua wai lai [Once a Tiger, Always a Tiger]. Bangkok: Matichon, 2008.
Phantharakratchadet, Khun. “Khwamchua thang saiyasat khong chao paktai [Saiyasat Beliefs of the Southern Thai People,” Suwitcha(10 Sept. 1976), reprinted in Samphan Kongsamut, Pho lo to to khun phantharakratchadet: sing moe prap sip thit [Pol. Maj. Gen. Khun Phantarakratchadet:The Lion-Lawman of the Ten Directions]. Bangkok: Wasi Khri-echan, 2007, Appendix 4, 470-492.
Phirayu Diprasoet, comp., Khwamjing lae khwamlap thi maikhoe mi khrai ru jatukhamramthep [Previously Unknown Turths and Secrets of Jatukhamramthep]. Bangkok: Ban Phra Athit, 2007.
Quinn, George. “The Javanese Science of Burglary.” Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs 9, 1 (1975), 33-54.
Ran Niranam. Jom witthaya yut phutthakkhom khao or saolin haeng muang Phatthalung [The Khao Or Masters of the Science of Struggle and Buddhist Incantations: The Shaolin of Phatthalung]. Bangkok: Wasi Khri-echan, 2007.
Reynolds, Craig J. “Rural Male Leadership, Religion and the Environment in Thailand’s Mid-South, 1920s-1960s,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 42, no.1 (Feb. 2011), 39-57.
Reynolds, Craig J. “Thai Manual Knowledge: Theory and Practice.” in Seditious Histories: Contesting Thai and Southeast Asian Pasts. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006.
Saksit Sitthinan. Tamra phrommachat chabap phrommalikhit chiwitkhun [The Phrommachat Manual: Brahmanical Instructions for the Good Life]. Bangkok: Liang Siang Press, n. d..
Skilling, Peter, et al. (eds.). How Theravada is Theravada? Exploring Buddhist Identities. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2012.
Soraj Honladarom. Witthayasat nai sangkhom lae watthanatham thai [Science in Thai Society and Culture]. Bangkok: Institute of Academic Development, 2002.
Stengs, Irene. “Collectible Amulets: The Triple Fetishes of Modern Thai Men.” Etnofoor, 12, no.1 (1998): 55-76.
Svendsen, Lars. A Philosophy of Fear. London: Reaktion Books, 2008.
Terzani, Tiziano. A Fortune-teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East. London: Flamingo, 1998.
Thep Sarikabut, et al. 1978. Tamra phrommachat chabap rat prajamban du duai ton eng [The Phrommachat Manual, The People’s Edition for Household Use and Self-instruction]. Bangkok:Thammaphakdi Press, 1978.
Turton, Andrew. “Invulnerability and Local Knowledge.” in Manas Chitakasem and Andrew Turton (eds.), Thai Constructions of Knowledge, 155-182. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1991.
Vajirajanavarorasa, Prince-Patriarch. The Entrance to the Vinaya. Bangkok: Mahamakut Rajavidhyalaya Press, 1973. Volume 2.
Vanchai Ariyabuddhiphongs and Nathanat Chanchalermporn. “A Test of Social Cognitive Reciprocal and Sequential Effects: Hope, Superstitious Belief and Environmental Facts among Lottery Gamblers in Thailand.” Journal of Gambling Studies 23 (2007), 201-214.
Wannasarn Noonsuk. “Kingdom on the Beach Ridges: A Landscape Archaeology of Tambralinga in Peninsular Siam.” Asian Perspectives, 52, no.2 (2014), 268-299.
Wassana Nanuam. Lap luang phrang phak phitsadan [Secrets, Trickery, and Camouflage: Improbable Phenomena. Bangkok: Post Books, 2009.
Wira Saengphet, Phumpanya kanprappram khong phon tor tor khun phantharakratchadet [The Local Wisdom of Khun Phanthara kratchadet for Maintaining Law and Order]. Bangkok: Thailand Research Fund, 2001.
Wales, H. G. Quaritch. Divination in Thailand: The Hopes and Fears of a Southeast Asian People. London: Curzon, 1983.
W. Jinpradit. Jutmungmai kong chaichatri [How to Be a Chai Chatri] Bangkok: Hosamutklang 09, 1996.
Wood, Michael. The Road to Delphi: the Life and Afterlife of Oracles. New York: Picador, 2004.